R. L. "Ted" Pardy, 86, professor emeritus in the School of Biological Sciences, died June 28.
Pardy was born in Rochester, New York, and was raised in Middletown, New York. He graduated from Northern Arizona University in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science degree, and later attended the University of Arizona earning a Masters of Science and doctorate (1966 and 1969). He moved his family to California from Arizona in 1969 and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Zoology, at the University of California, Los Angeles until 1971. Pardy then accepted a position at the University of California, Irvine, where he progressed from instructor to assistant professor, lecturer, and assistant dean of the School of Biological Sciences.
He joined the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 1977 as an assistant professor and retired in 2011. He studied lipopolysaccharides, also known as endotoxin, in unicellular, eukaryotic algae and discovered a molecule in algae thought to exist only in bacteria. Later in his career, he focused on undergraduate teaching with a well-recognized talent for captivating students in a large lecture format. He received the university's Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award and the Distinguished Teaching Award, and he was honored 18 times by the UNL Parents' Association (now the Friends and Family Recognition Award).
"The breadth of his teaching contributions to undergraduate instruction are most extraordinary," Jack Morris, a previous director of the school, wrote in an award nomination letter. "The remarkable feature of his total record is reflected in the balanced research contributions that include some 40 research papers, a funded research program, and a good mix of graduate and undergraduate researchers in the lab."
"The goal is to take 50 minutes and have people's lives change," Pardy said. "That is the real challenge."
He had many exciting professional adventures during his career, including field research in Puerto Panasco, Mexico; as an instructor at the Marine Biology Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts (summers 1975 and 1976 with his family); two research trips to Palau in the South Pacific as an invited researcher funded by the National Geographic; and two research sabbaticals to the research center under professor and dear friend, Ulrich (“Uli”) Zaehrigner, in Bostel, Germany (with Ann).
After retirement, Pardy turned to art, especially watercolor.
"My early formal training in biology involved the traditional approach of careful observation and the detailed drawing of whole specimens and structures seen through the microscope," he wrote in an artist statement on his website. "Cisual arts, as in drawing and painting, are like science: a way of asking and answering questions."
He was pre-deceased by his wife, Ann Pardy, and is survived by his son Matthew (wife Kayli), granddaughter Lucy, and very special family friend Denise.
The Ted and Ann Pardy Biology Scholarship Fund for supporting the School of Biological Sciences.
"I was able to enjoy many conversations with Ted during my tenure as director," Michael Herman, director of the school, said. "He was a great source of information and ideas, especially around education."
Memorial details will be shared when available.
A celebration of life will be 3 p.m. Sept. 27 at Glacial Till Vineyard, 344 S. Second Road, Palmyra, Nebraska. The family requests memorials in Pardy's name to local charities.
The family obituary is available here.
