Individual Details

Death

Obituary: Edward Dennis Theriot, Jr., commonly known as Dennis, of Bradenton, formerly of Longboat Key, died July 5, 2010, after a long struggle with metastatic melanoma. He was born March 19, 1938, in Baton Rouge, LA. He graduated from Duke University in 1960 and received a PhD in Physics from Yale University in 1967. He served on the staff of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in Illinois for 24 years before his retirement in 1993 as Associate Director for Technology. The professional achievement of which he was the proudest was his participation in the construction of CDF, the Collider Detector at Fermilab, as Deputy Project Manager. He started with an empty field in 1981, and with the help of a lot of other people ended up with one of two detectors that discovered the top quark in 1996. That detector is still operating today. It will soon be replaced by the next generation of collider detectors currently being commissioned at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, in Geneva, Switzerland. After retirement, he frequently served on review committees for the US Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation, overseeing the construction and management of other large physics research detectors at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Fermilab, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Jefferson Lab, and CERN. He is survived by his wife of nearly 50 years, Lee Day Theriot of Bradenton, and two daughters, Sharon Gail Theriot of Natick, MA, and Julie Anne Theriot of San Mateo, CA. It was his request that flowers not be sent and for there to be no services held. Condolences for the family may be made online at www.shannonfuneralhomes.com. Arrangements by Shannon Funeral Home Westview Chapel, Bradenton. (Published in The Herald on July 7, 2010)