George Thodos, 84, of Washington, D.C., a professor of chemical engineering in the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University for 40 years, died Tuesday, Feb. 29, of leukemia at a Washington, D.C., hospital. A Chicago native, Mr. Thodos was the eldest son of Greek immigrants. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Illinois Institute of Technology and then went on to earn a doctorate at the University of Wisconsin. Mr. Thodos moved to Washington about 2 1/2 years ago when he remarried, said his wife, Dianne Nickols Thodos. “We had a brief but very happy, happy marriage,” she said. Mr. Thodos held several patents and published numerous papers in the field of chemical engineering. “He was dedicated to his work. Through the ’50s and ’60s, he wrote many papers in chemical engineering. He did meticulous work in applied research,” said William Brazelton, a former colleague at Northwestern. . . . The graduate students loved him; he had quite a following.” In addition to his wife, he is survived by a son, Jason; four daughters, Melissa Johnston, Anna Ratas, Diane and Christina; two brothers, James Thomas and Harry; a sister, Theresa Thodos Pressvelos; and a grandson. Services were held Thursday in Richmond, Va.
