Dr. Lawrence (Larry) Edison Banks Jr., 71, of Springfield passed away Jan. 6, 2010, after a brief struggle with cancer. He served the University faithfully for nearly 50 years.

Dr. Banks was born Jan. 20, 1938, in Lawton, Okla. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a B.S. in Physics in 1959 and a Ph.D. in Physics in 1969. Dr. Banks served Missouri State University during his entire professional career, beginning in 1961. At that time the University was a small college of fewer than 3,000 students and Dr. Howard Petefish was the only faculty physicist. The Science Department was headed by Dr. Robert W. Martin, a chemist. Dr. Banks’ teaching load for the first few years was 19 hours/semester. In 1968, the University was divided into four divisions. It was within the Division of Science and Technology that the Department of Physical Sciences was formed and Dr. Banks was chosen as leader. As the University evolved, departments split and became schools, and eventually colleges; Dr. Banks was consistently chosen to lead. He served as the Physics and Astronomy Department head for 21 years, and in 1994, Dr. Banks was named dean of the College of Natural and Applied Sciences. He served as dean for 12 years. Dr. Banks was the primary originator of the Missouri Virtual School, a program that provides specialized instruction to students in rural schools throughout Missouri. When Dr. Banks retired from MSU in 2006, he continued to work with the Missouri Virtual School.

One of the many accolades Dr. Banks received during his tenure was the Science Teachers’ of Missouri Distinguished Service Award (2000). He also was named a Fellow of the Missouri Academy of Science in 2004. Though he felt his contributions to the administration at Missouri State were small, Dr. Banks summarized his dedication to the University at his retirement reception in 2006, “I came because I loved the discipline of physics, and I stayed because I found that I loved helping students learn about physics.” He uniquely appreciated the importance of learning, and his greatest joy was for each and every student to discover a disciplinary niche and an understanding of our complex world and society that could captivate their imagination. He inspired each one of us still at the University to carry on this tradition.

Dr. Banks is survived by his wife of 51 years, Judith Banks; daughter Kathy Robertson and her husband, Richard; son, Lawrence Edison (Eddy) Banks III and his wife, Cynthia; and granddaughters, Lauren Banks, Matty Banks and Rachel Robertson.

Memorial donations may be made to the Banks Family Scholarship in care of the MSU Foundation (http://www.missouristatefoundation.org).

Remembrances – “From the first day I arrived on campus, Larry spent lots of time with me; probably because I wasn’t always doing the right thing. As a new assistant professor my teaching reviews were not that good, and everyone helped mentor me – I think this is a real testament to the way Larry ran the department and his skill of getting people to do the right thing. Through the years I always tried to do a lot of research, and Larry as department head and later dean, always supported my efforts; even when it didn’t seem like more research was something the department really needed. He always loved undergraduate research projects and was very interested in what we might accomplish at that level. He was passionate and outspoken about maintaining the quality of our undergraduate science and math programs.”

This remembrance comes from a faculty member hired by Dr. Banks – Ryan Giedd, now the executive director of JVIC. Dr. Giedd, like Dr. Banks, served time as Physics, Astronomy and Materials Science department head.

Do you have a story or a remembrance of Dr. Banks?

If so, please send it to CNAS. Recollections from faculty and staff will be placed in a scrapbook – one copy will remain in the college archives and the other will be passed on to his family.