Frederic McKenzie, professor and chair of the department of computational modeling and simulation engineering in the Batten College of Engineering and Technology at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, died on July 12. He was 55 years old.
Dr. McKenzie joined the faculty at Old Dominion University in 1999. He was promoted to full professor in 2011 and became department chair in 2013. Dr. McKenzie’s research focused on medical modeling and simulation, human behavior representation, and simulation architectures often focusing on aspects of scientific visualization and virtual reality. He held seven U.S. patents.
Professor McKenzie held a bachelor’s degree in engineering, a master’s degree in computer engineering, and a Ph.D. in computer engineering, all from the University of Central Florida.
Fredric (Rick) McKenzie was my younger brother. I would just like to say that my brother Rick was such an outstanding person that only those who really knew him understood that his accomplishments were so very much more . The list is so long but includes working for NASA & having designed computer units onboard the space shuttle, which happened just after one of the shuttles exploded after lift off . Rick’s computer made sure that wouldn’t happen again . While with NASA he also was part of the team that set up the landing strips for the shuttle . He also work for a short time with the pentagon . He did so much more I can’t begin to tell all but most of all he was a dear brother to Arthur & Myself . A wonderfull father to two beautiful sons , a loving husband & the pride of our mom & Dad !!!
In loving memory of my dear brother Rick !!
Kirk McKenzie..