Dear friends of CISAC:

We are deeply saddened to report that our friend and colleague, Rod Ewing, passed away on Saturday, July 13th, 2024. Rod Ewing was the Frank Stanton Professor of Nuclear Security at Stanford, a Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the Stanford Doerr School, an FSI Senior Fellow, and starting in 2017, the Science Co-Director for CISAC. He was also a professor emeritus from the University of Michigan and the University of New Mexico. He is survived by his wife, Helga Fuchs, and his family.

We all know Rod as an incredibly accomplished scholar, mentor, teacher and leader. His lifetime of publications, awards, recognitions, and contributions to public service are nearly too numerous to account for, and his CISAC biography is a testimony of this. 

You will find a thoughtful obituary for Rod in today’s Stanford Report, which you can find here. Dr. François Diaz-Maurin, a CISAC fellowship alumnus, also prepared a moving tribute to his mentor, published here in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

In this moment, I would like us to take time to remember Rod as a deeply valued friend and colleague.

Rod’s CISAC Co-Director, Scott Sagan, shares the following with us: “Rod was a wonderful man, a superb scholar, and a trusted colleague.  I will miss him greatly. The word I think about most when remembering Rod is integrity: integrity in his research, in his mentorship, and in his leadership.”

Our CISAC colleagues Amy Zegart and Colin Kahl were also fortunate to serve as co-directors with Rod.

According to Amy, “Rod was a world class scholar, colleague, and friend who cared deeply about others. I will always remember teaching the honors seminar with him through covid— a time when his humor and grace and humanity helped carry our community in so many ways. He will be missed and cherished by many.”

Colin also shared, “I'm deeply saddened by the passing of my colleague and friend Rod Ewing. I had the great pleasure of serving as CISAC co-director with Rod for two years. I learned so much from Rod during that time. I was always impressed by his world-class intellect, his collegiality, his generosity, and his humanity. He will be deeply missed.”

As the director of the Freeman Spogli Institute, Mike McFaul worked with Rod in his capacity as co-director probably longer than any of us. He reports, “I am deeply saddened by the loss of our beloved colleague at Stanford, FSI, and CISAC, Rod Ewing.  Rod was not only an academic superstar, recognized around the world as the best in his field, but was also a major intellectual leader at CISAC and FSI, whose wisdom, judgment, and values I always admired and learned from. He was simply a stellar person in so many ways. His absence will be felt deeply by me and everyone in our community.”

Personally, we will deeply miss Rod. In particular, Harold remembers his remarkable intellect, his fantastic sense of humor, his deep wisdom and sage advice, his kindness, his thoughtful leadership, and his equanimity in face of all that life can throw at us. Kelly adds that Rod embodied calm professionalism in the face of adversity. He was a shining example of poise, grace, honesty, resilience and humility.

We will share information on services at a later date once it becomes available.

Very respectfully,

Harold Trinkunas                                                  Kelly Remus

CISAC Deputy Director                                      CISAC Associate Director