Riki Kobayashi

Riki Kobayashi, 89, the Louis Calder Professor Emeritus in Chemical Engineering at Rice University and a pioneer in the field of differential kinetics, died on July 19, 2013.

Born in Webster, Texas, Kobayashi received a B.S. in chemical engineering from Rice in 1944. He served in the Army for one year before earning an M.S. in 1947 and a Ph.D. in 1951, both in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan.

He then joined the Rice faculty, becoming a well-known expert in thermodynamic and transport properties and developing ways to measure hydrocarbon vapor-water-gas phase equilibrium. Kobayashi coauthored the “Handbook of Natural Gas Engineering” in 1949 and published almost 200 articles in professional journals. He retired in 1994.

Kobayashi was a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the American Institute of Chemists, a member of numerous other organizations, and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. He was an emeritus member of ACS, joining in 1956.

He received numerous awards, including the Outstanding Engineering Award from Rice and the first Donald L. Katz Award from the Gas Processors Association.

Kobayashi was a member of the Unitarian Church. A sports enthusiast, he enjoyed tossing a football or playing a pickup game of basketball with his students.

He is survived by his wife, Lee; sons, Brock and Alec; two step-daughters, Susan Lovejoy and Anne Lovejoy; and three grandchildren.