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Death
November 14, 2006, Volume 53, No. 12

Dr. Garito, Physics and Astronomy

Anthony Garito

Dr. Anthony F. Garito, professor emeritus of physics, died November 1, at the age of 67.

Born in New Rochelle, New York, he earned his B.S. in 1962 at Columbia University. In 1965 he came to Penn as an advanced research projects pre-doctoral research fellow. He obtained his Ph.D. in chemistry from Penn in 1968 and spent the next two years here as a research associate. Remaining at Penn, Dr. Garito joined the faculty in 1970 as an assistant professor of physics. He was promoted to associate professor in 1973 and five years later became full professor.

Nobel Prize recipient Dr. Alan Heeger, who had taught physics at Penn for over 20 years, wrote that Dr. Garito introduced him to tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ); “I brought him into my research group for post-doctoral research. We worked together from 1970 through 1975 on the metal-physics of TTF-TCNQ and on the discovery of the Peierls instability in quasi-one-dimensional p-stacked molecular crystals.”

Dr. Garito was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1999; he was chosen for his “contributions to the understanding of enhancement mechanisms for second- and third-order nonlinear optical processes in organic and polymer structures.”

Dr. Garito had also served as a visiting professor at the University of Paris, in France, and  at the Frontier Research program at the Institute for Physical and Chemical Research in Japan.

He became an emeritus professor in  2002.

Dr. Garito also held numerous consulting and advisory positions during his tenure at Penn. He served on many committees for events and organizations such as the Conference on Magnetism and Magnetic Materials; the Lake Arrowhead Conference on One Dimensional Organic and Inorganic Conductors; the SPIE Annual Conference; the Materials Research Council of Advanced Research Projects Agency and the U.S. Energy Research and Development Agency. He also served on the advisory board for Nonlinear Optics. In the 1970s, Dr. Garito served as a consultant to Pennwalt Chemical Co., DuPont, Hughes Corp. and, in the 1980s, he served as a consultant to U.S. Industries.

Dr. Garito’s research focused on nonlinear optical phenomena at fast and ultrafast timescales, complemented by studies in many-body effects and material physics. He authored numerous publications on the findings of his research.

Dr. Garito is survived by his wife, Juliette; children, Anthony LeBaron, Michael James and Mary Liana; grandchildren, Mia Juliette, Sage Michael and James Nicholas; and siblings,  Ann DiMaggio, Grace Danielsen, Frank and Jim Garito.

Contributions can be made to The Lymphoma & Leukemia Society, #2 International Plaza, Suite 245, Ridley Park, PA 19078.




To Report A Death

Almanac appreciates being informed of the deaths of current and former faculty and staff members, students, and other members of the University community.

However, notices of alumni deaths should be directed to the Alumni Records Office at Room 545, Franklin Building, (215) 898-8136 or e-mail record@ben.dev.upenn.edu.

Almanac - November 14, 2006, Volume 53, No. 12