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Thursday, October 19, 2006

UD Finds Nobility...


...in this professor's farewell gesture to his class.



A UC Berkeley physics professor and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory senior scientist was found dead at the lab Tuesday afternoon hours after telling his students he was suffering from depression.

Michael T. Ronan, 57, was discovered behind Building 50B after apparently suffering a fatal fall about 4:38 p.m. according to witnesses near the scene, a statement from the lab said.


...Ronan was the professor for a Physics 8A class on campus and during review of a midterm on Tuesday told his students he was suffering from depression and would not continue to teach the class.

Following his announcement to the class, Ronan spoke to The Daily Californian yesterday about 2:30 p.m.

“I wanted to say goodbye to the class,” he said. “I had troubles and just couldn’t handle it and just came to the point that I just had to give up. I’m just depressed.”

... One student, UC Berkeley junior Rebecca Chien, described Ronan as a “normal person” who was down-to-earth. She said she did not recognize signs of his depression, but said Ronan had become more disorganized as the semester progressed.


... “It’s very shocking and tragic to happen anywhere, but having it happen sort of 20 feet from where your office is, somehow makes it even more real,” [a colleague] said.