On Friday, July 15, the University of Maryland lost John S. Toll, one of its most prized and influential figures. Dr. Toll was a physicist, scholar and educator whose many achievements included the development of Maryland physics from a small department to one of the largest and finest in the nation.

After serving in the Navy during WWII, Toll completed his Ph.D. in physics at Princeton. In 1953, he became chair of UMD's Department of Physics and Astronomy. He left in 1965 to serve a remarkable term as president of SUNY Stony Brook, then returned to UMD in 1978 as president and later Chancellor of the University of Maryland system.

In physics, he is well known for his work in developing the modern approach to dispersion theory and its application to problems in elementary particle physics.

In 2002, the Maryland physics building was named in his honor.