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July 5, 2007
Lisa Nestor, a member of the Holy Cross chemistry department from 1985-99, died July 5, after a long battle with cancer.
Mrs. Nestor had most recently served as a senior lecturer at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.; joining the staff there in 1999, she had taught laboratory classes in introductory chemistry. A strong proponent of the guided-inquiry approach to teaching, Mrs. Nestor had also been instrumental in founding the Supplemental Instruction program—designed to provide assistance to students in their pursuit of rigorous academic studies such as chemistry.
During her tenure at Holy Cross, she had served as a laboratory supervisor, lecturer, visiting lecturer and instructor, among other responsibilities.
Mrs. Nestor is survived by her husband, Jim; her mother, Mary Sue Payne; her brother, Phillip Payne and his family; and two stepchildren, Patrick James Nestor and Maureen Sherman, and their families.
Ronald Jarret, Richard Herrick and Evelyn Cesary of the chemistry department, chemical hygiene officer, Jamie Herrick, and physics professor, Janine Shertzer, share the following remembrance of Lisa Nestor:
Lisa came to Holy Cross after earning her bachelor’s degree in chemistry at The College of William and Mary and her graduate degree at Princeton University. Lisa was a key player in the creation and implementation of the Discovery Chemistry Program. The success of the nationally recognized Discovery Chemistry Program was due in large part to Lisa’s unique ability to turn abstract ideas into practical experiments that linked the laboratory to the lecture. She supervised 200 students each year in the Discovery laboratories, and continued to refine and update the labs for over a decade.
She strove for perfection in everything she did. She is co-author of several papers in the Journal of Chemical Education. Lisa was also a popular lecturer in the General Chemistry sequence. Her research was in the area of blue copper proteins, and she was committed to involving undergraduates in her research. She was also active in Phi Beta Kappa.
Lisa’s enthusiasm for life touched everyone who met her. She was deeply committed to her family and her friends … and her cats, whom she named after famous spectroscopists. She was passionate about gardening and cooking, and nothing gave her greater pleasure than to share the fruits of her labor with her friends. She loved traveling with Jim, her husband of 25 years. Lisa had a magnetic personality and friends flocked to her from all walks of life. You were not an acquaintance of Lisa; you were Lisa’s best friend. She never missed an opportunity to celebrate with colleagues, friends and family and her departure from the College left a void that has never been filled.
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