Victor F. Zackay, professor emeritus of the University of California at Berkeley, passed away on March 14 at his home in Ridgefield after a long illness. He was 94.
Victor Zackay was born in San Francisco, Calif. He received his primary and secondary education there and attended the University of California, Berkeley, for three years prior to the outbreak of World War II. After volunteering for service, he rose from private to captain in the Combat Engineers and spent two years in the China-Burma-India theatre.
Upon his return five years later he completed his bachelor of science degree in materials science as well as a master’s and doctorate in that field. Dr. Zackay joined the newly-formed scientific laboratory of Ford Motor Co., in Dearborn, Mich. Serving in both roles of scientist and later, management, he designed unusual steels which were subsequently patented and widely used in industry. These included iron aluminum alloys for automotive exhaust systems and ultra-high nitrogen steels for some early gas turbine components.
In 1962 Dr. Zackay left Ford Motor Co. and joined the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley, where he supervised theses research of over 100 students. Dr. Zackay became associate dean of the College of Engineering as well as associate director of research in the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. He developed new kinds of superconducting components with high transition temperatures and new ultra-high strength steels. He also consulted with engineers and scientists of companies such as Gillette and Johnson & Johnson. Dr. Zackay was a member of the J&J team that designed and produced ultra-high strength corrosion resistant steel needles used in cardiovascular and ophthalmic wound closures.
He also worked at Gillette to produce a special coating for razor blades that, when applied just below the cutting edge, would be hard and corrosion resistant and would provide lubricity. The alloys found to provide the required characteristics were the class of materials that Dr. Zackay had used for the best superconducting properties. For many years., all TWIN TRAC blades were made with this coating.
After 17 years at the university, Professor Zackay retired early to form his own company, Materials and Methods, Inc. The goal of his company was to bring companies with technical problems together with university professors processing sufficient knowledge of the required fields to solve these problems. These contracts were established in chemical, electrical, mechanical and metallurgical engineering. In the course of his academic and industrial careers, Dr. Zackay published over 100 papers and received many honors and awards.
Retiring eventually in 1989, he immersed himself in the art of woodcraft. Working in his well-equipped shop, he utilized exotic tropical woods from all over the world to create boxes of unusual size and design — a hobby most fitting as it related to his life-long association with materials.
Dr. Zackay is survived by his wife, Lillian Marie Sherdal as well as family in California and Illinois.
Contributions in memory of Dr. Zackay may be made to Regional Hospice and Home care of Western CT, 30 Milestone Road, Danbury, CT 06810.
—by the family