Memorial service for Holt, former chair of Civil Engineering, planned for Sept. 13

FROM RICE NEWS STAFF REPORTS

Edward Holt, professor emeritus of civil engineering, died Aug. 28. He was 87.

	EDWARD HOLT

A member of the Civil Engineering Department from 1956 through 1993, Holt served at least one term as chairman of the department. For at least 15 years, he was a faculty associate of Sid Richardson College.

His daughter Barbara Holt Szalkowski, an ’81 Rice alumna, recalled that her parents loved welcoming the freshman students to their home.

“During freshman week, starting when my siblings and I were teenagers, my parents hosted my father’s new freshman group for a sit-down dinner (china, flatware, tablecloth, the whole thing) on our expandable dining room table,” Szalkowski said. ”It could be extended by up to five leaves and seat some 20 people, and I believe my parents purchased it for that very reason.” Hurricane Alicia and family members in the hospital did not deter the entire family from welcoming Holt’s students, she said.

Szalkowski also recalled that in the 1960s, the late Professor Ken Kennedy was one of Holt’s students in the Fortran for Engineers course. And she remembered that when her father held the position of proctor, he ”had the privilege of disciplining [student] Patrick Dyson for the turning of Willy’s Statue prank.”

Holt was an avid Rice football fan and held season tickets from the time he arrived at Rice until the end of Rice’s participation in the Southwest Conference in 1996, Szalkowski said. “He and my mother were married Dec. 28, 1957 in Pennsylvania, and on the drive back home, they stopped for the Cotton Bowl game on New Year’s Day in 1958 to watch Rice play Navy (they lost),” she said. ”I went to Rice games with my parents, as did my siblings, from the time I turned 8 years old. We never left early, regardless of the score or the weather.”

Holt is survived by his wife of more than 53 years, Ruth; four children — Margaret (Maggie) Stockwell and husband Chris; Barbara Szalkowski; Marjorie Russell and husband Steve; Rice alumnus Will Holt ’86 and wife Gay; five grandchildren, including Rice alumnus Matthew Szalkowski ’11; a great-granddaughter; a nephew and four nieces.

A formal obituary will appear in the Houston Chronicle Sept. 11. A memorial service is planned for 2 p.m. Sept. 13 at St. Matthew Lutheran Church, 5315 Main St. Condolences may be sent to Mrs. Edward C. Holt, 2501 Westerland Dr., A212, Houston, TX 77063. The family suggests that anyone wishing to make memorial contributions consider St. Matthew Lutheran Church, 5315 Main St., Houston, TX 77004, or the Rice University general scholarship fund, http://giving.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=245.