ROGER ANDREW KAUTZ

Roger Andrew Kautz, 58, of Nahant MA, died May 27, 2017.  He was born in Palo Alto, CA, attended Palo Alto schools and graduated from Gunn High School in 1976, was a graduate of Reed College, and received his PhD from Stanford University.  He completed two post-doctoral positions at Yale University, followed by two post doctoral research positions at MIT, and was hired as a full-time Principal Research Scientist at Northeastern University and became Director of the NMR Facility in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology where he worked for 20 years.

In his honor the College of Science at Northeastern University has established a Roger Kautz Prize in the Department of Chemistry, an award which will be given annually to an undergraduate student who exhibits talent and shares Roger’s passion for NMR spectroscopy.

Roger is survived by his wife Karen and two children, Arthur age 17 and Julia age 15.  He was a loving father and husband, enjoyed vintage dancing with his wife in dances from the 1860’s through jazz age.  He took joy in helping to mentor the Robotics Team at Swampscott High School, volunteered annually at the Ig Nobel Awards at Harvard, and was active in numerous NMR and spectroscopy groups in Boston.  He also leaves brothers, Dave Kautz of Palo Alto, Steve Kautz of Ames Iowa, and Brian Kautz of Sebastopol CA and their loving families.

Roger died of a brain cancer and donated his body to science through the Anatomical Gift Program at Tufts University School of Medicine.  A memorial will be planned for May 2018 to coincide with both a memorial service through Tufts Medical School and the awarding of the first Roger Kautz Prize at Northeastern University.  In lieu of flowers, contributions suggested to the family to help with education or donation to the Roger Kautz Prize by contacting Northeastern University.