REGINALD CHARLES EGGLETON

INDIANAPOLIS – Reginald Charles Eggleton peacefully passed away July 23, 2007, in Bangor. He was born July 6, 1920, in Hillsdale, Mich., the first son of Dr. Frank E. and Gladys J. (Vary) Eggleton. A pioneer in the field of ultrasound, he established world standards for ultrasonic imaging technology in the 1960s and 1970s. He helped the fight against breast cancer, heart disease, Parkinson’s disease and other neurological disorders by making investigative contributions in the fields of biomedical engineering, biophysics, electron microscopy, medical art, clinical diagnostics, paranormal phenomenon and echocardiography. He held 17 patents in medical ultrasonic and artificial heart technology. Reginald was a professor of surgical research at Indiana University School of Medicine and an adjunct associate professor, Scientific Illustration at the Herron School of Art. Upon his 1978 retirement from Indiana University, he founded and became president of the Institute for Marine Technology in 1979. He also devoted time to an engineering consulting enterprise with his nephew, Colin Eggleton. Prior to this time, he served in successive administrative capacities, notably as director, Ultrasound Research Laboratories of the Indianapolis Center for Advanced Research, Indianapolis, 1972-1978; president, Interscience Research Institute Campaign, Illinois, 1970-1972; senior research scientist, Interscience Research Institute, 1957-1972; research associate, Biophysical Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, 1957-1969; research associate, Thin Film Laboratory Electrical Engineering, University of Illinois, 1953-1957; head, Development Laboratory, Alden Products, Brockton, Mass., 1950-1953; general manager, Haller, Raymond & Brown, State College, Pa., 1946-1950; president, RECO Motion Pictures, Ann Arbor, Mich., 1944-1946; engineer, Physicists Research Co., Ann Arbor, Mich., 1940-1944. Reggie will be best remembered as a scientist, inventor, teacher and outdoor high adventurer. Wearing many hats during his life, he captained and taught sailing navigation on the Great Lakes, New England seaboard and Caribbean. He was an airplane pilot, mountain climber, nature photographer and metal and woodshop machinist. He loved cooking, artistic pursuits, sound recording and watching the Discovery Science channel. His imaginative curiosity led to creative inventions and intellectual properties as diverse as, the “rock-hopper” fishing lure, an artificial heart, nautical navigation safety devices, a medical operating table, cardio scan probes, a spider monkey stereo-tactic brain atlas, various high-speed facsimile processes, industrial motion pictures and mechanical dental research devices. Reggie’s passion for popular science was stirred in the 1920s by Buck Rodgers comic strips and sustained by Carl Sagan’s Cosmos over a half century later. Scientific inquiry was a family thing, his father, a zoology professor, discovered a new species of fresh water clam, his sister studied botany and his brother, a lunar geologist, helped to accurately map the surface of the moon for manned space travel. Through-out his vigorous and distinguished life, Reggie would be written about in Time Magazine, become a Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society and would earn the Life Award Badge in Boy Scouts. He would serve as co-chairman of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine Standards Committee and become captain of his high school track team. He would win recognition as a U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary officer and win local newspaper awards for his gourmet chicken cashew crunch recipe. As a devoted husband, father and uncle, Reggie enjoyed life and was a favorite with the kids as a farm league baseball coach, a teen rock band promoter, a hiking and camping expedition leader and a youth symphony booster. Reggie was predeceased by his first wife, Rosalie (Pielemeier) Eggleton, associate professor, library science, in 1976; their daughter, Meredith Eggleton, symphony violinist, in 1988; and his second wife, Phyllis (LaMaire) Eggleton, registered nurse, in 2007. He is survived by his sister, Phyllis White of Ann Arbor, Mich.; brother, Dr. Richard Eggleton of Denver; his two sons, Mark Eggleton, D.D.S., and wife, Janet Berkel, of Bangor, and TV executive, Eric Eggleton and his wife, Toni, of Rockville, Md.; his two stepdaughters, Beth Cobb, law school librarian, of Champaign, Ill., and April White, art school librarian, of Fayetteville, Ark.; his grandchildren, Cady, Nicolas, Erin, Elaine, Stephanie and Alexander; and his great-grand-daughter, Mira. A family memorial service will be held Aug. 7, in Reggie’s beloved Northern Michigan on the shores of Surgeon Bay. Gifts in memory of Reggie may be sent to professor Reginald C. Eggleton Endowment Fund, Eastern Maine Charities, P.O. Box 931, Bangor, ME 04402.