John Louis Bove’, renowned research scientist, educator, and professor emeritus, passed away Thursday, March 3, 2022. He was 93. 

John Louis Bove’, professor of chemistry and environmental engineering, held a joint appointment in both the Albert Nerken School of Engineering and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. He served as vice president of The Cooper Union Research Foundation from 1975-1978 and chaired the Department of Chemistry from 1990-2010. Professor Bove’ was in his mid-eighties when he retired from teaching in 2011, and he missed his students and research laboratory every day after.

Born in Brooklyn on April 15, 1928 to Frank and Brigida Randazzo Bove’, his family moved to Queens Village when he was two years old and he attended New York City public schools. Professor Bove’ received his undergraduate degree in chemistry from Bucknell University in 1949, and then served in the United States Army during the Korean War where he was first stationed in the laboratory at Brooke Army Hospital in Arizona and then the Miscellaneous Analysis Laboratory in Japan. Upon discharge from the Army, he returned to Bucknell for an M.S. in chemistry in 1954. Shortly after, he began teaching at the State University of New York Maritime Academy at Fort Schuyler and while there, he received a research grant from The Research Foundation of the State University of New York. Later, Professor Bove’ received his Ph.D. from Case-Western Reserve University in 1973.

During this time, with his cousin as a partner, Professor Bove’ built houses in Babylon, Long Island. The income from the thirty houses they built supplemented the academic wages and afforded him a time in the business world that he enjoyed immensely.

In 1957, Professor Bove’ was employed as a research chemist by the Scientific Design Company and a year later, he returned to teaching and research, and began his career at The Cooper Union. In 1967, he left Cooper Union briefly to become deputy director of the New York City Air Resources Department where he spent his time researching on lead in the ambient air. That work was published by the journal, Science, and he returned to Cooper Union as a full professor in 1970.

Professor Bove’ heavily encouraged undergraduate students to engage in research ordinarily assigned to graduate students and instituted a summer program for high school students in the New York metropolitan area. This work resulted in publications in several prestigious journals. He also consulted on chemical and environmental problems. From 1974-1975, he served as Senior Air Quality Consultant for the Westway Project. From 1978-1980, he was a Consultant for the State of New York Department of Air Resources from and was a member of Region II Middle Atlantic Consortium on Air Pollution (ACAP) funded by Manpower Development US (EPA). 

His interests were wide, and he enjoyed his work with artist Pedro Cuni on binding medium used in Roman encaustic paintings, resulting in a paper in 2012 among his long list of published research. 

Music was always his pleasure from the time at age three when his parents gave him ukulele lessons. He became adept in the mandolin classic repertoire, but his favorite was the alto saxophone. He was part of a college band and found the music of Stan Kenton and other jazz musicians inspiring. Later in life he enjoyed his years in the choir of St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church. He was not a soloist, just a nice bass voice, but he had perfect relative pitch, a trait that endeared him to choir directors. 

In 1957, he married June Althea Burns. They moved to Ridgewood, New Jersey in 1959 where their daughters, Adele and Catherine, were born. His beloved brother, Charles, predeceased him. 

Professor Bove’ is survived by his wife June Bove’, their daughters Adele and Catherine Bove’, his grandchildren Meilin and John Muller. He is also survived by his sisters-in-law Barbara M. Burns and Joan Humphrey Bove’, nephew Charles R. Bove’ and his wife Regina, niece Suzanne Bove’ Bast and her husband Robert, two grandnieces Alyssa Bove’ and Charlsey Bast, and two grandnephews Gregory Bove’ and James Bast.

A memorial service will be held at a future date with interment of ashes in the memorial garden of St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations in John’s memory be made to Scholarships at the Cooper Union or to St. Elizabeth’s Church:

• Checks made out to The Cooper Union with “Scholarship gift in memory of John Bove’” noted on the memo line can be mailed to: Cooper Union Office of Development, P. O. Box 22422, New York, NY 10087-2242.  To make a gift securely online, go to (https://cooper.edu/giving/give-online).
• Checks made out to St. Elizabeth’s Church with “in memory of John Bove’” noted on the memo line can be mailed to St. Elizabeth’s Church, 169 Fairmount Road, Ridgewood, NJ 07450.  To securely make an online donation in memory of John Bove’, please go to: (https://secure.myvanco.com/L-YZ6G/home) and click on the Memorial Fund tile.

Quotes from a former student and colleagues from The Cooper Union:

"My professor in freshman chemistry, John Bové, never needed any notes when he taught. It was amazing how he knew his organic chemistry inside out. He recruited me to do chemistry research in the third week of my freshman year, and the rest is history. I not only changed my major from electrical engineering to chemical engineering, but also pursued my Ph.D. in materials chemistry." - Jackie Y. Ying ChE'87

“Perhaps no faculty member left more of a mark on the Chemistry Department, or on Cooper Union, in the 20th century than John Bove’. He taught general, organic and analytical chemistry to generations of students, usually without the use of lecture notes. Bove’ taught here from 1951 to 2011 (with a short break in the middle) and fell in love with the students at Cooper. He viewed every semester that he taught here as a great privilege. I loved chatting with him and trying to absorb a little bit of his encyclopedic knowledge. We advised a few students jointly in research, but Bove' was pretty much all the advisor that any one student needed. The most important attribute he had was kindness. He was tough, too - a native New Yorker, after all - but he knew how much a hurtful word from a professor can sting, so he always did his best to treat his students with kindness and respect. John was a terrific department chair and a supportive colleague. He never lost faith in me, even when I stumbled. He supported me in everything I tried to do and showed me how to do it better. I'll never forget John, and neither will the rest of us who had the good fortune to know him.” – Robert Q. Topper, professor of chemistry

“John Bove’ was truly an outstanding individual. He was a remarkable teacher, researcher, mentor, and overall human being. I first met John as a high school student as part of Cooper Union’s summer research program. I remember going to his office and saying I wanted to learn organic chemistry, so he whips out this graduate-level textbook called “Advanced Organic Chemistry” by Jerry March and tells me to read it! Clearly, I had no idea what I was reading, but I still went to his office every day with questions. I found out many years later that this was part of his “frustrate and confuse” mentality – it helped him identify students who truly wanted to learn the material vs. those that were doing this to get a research experience on their resume. My experience that summer was instrumental in my decision to apply to Cooper Union as an undergraduate, and my continued relationship with Prof. Bove’ was also instrumental in my decision to return to Cooper Union as a faculty member in 2005. I try to mentor students in much the same way that he did — John seemed to know exactly how to manage different students. I always felt like he gave me total freedom and independence to learn things on my own (and fail), but he was always there for help if I asked for it. John Bove retired from Cooper Union in 2011. After his last lecture, his students gave him a round of applause and he proceeded to cry in his office. It is hard to put into words how influential John has been for so many generations of Cooper Union students for nearly 60 years. Thank you, John.” – Ruben M. Savizky, associate dean for academic affairs and professor of chemistry