In Memoriam of Professor Kamal Asgar (1922-2012)

Dr. Kamal Asgar (Asgarzadeh), a respected Iranian-American dental materials scientist, died suddenly on Monday, July 09, 2012, at the age of 89 in his home in Park Ridge, NJ.¹ Dr. Asgar developed Parkinson's disease during the last few years of his life, but the cause of his death was infectious pneumonia. Dr. Kamal Asgar was born in Tabriz, Iran, on August 28, 1922. Finishing his primary education, Dr. Asgar entered the University of Tehran's competitive engineering program. After graduating from the engineering school, he moved to the United States in December 1946 to continue his postgraduate studies in chemical engineering at University of Michigan. Dr. Asgar's interests and unique passions in his academic path led him to become one of the most well-respected and accomplished dental materials scientist in the world.¹ During his time at U of M, Dr. Asgar started working at Dr. Floyd Avery Peyton's laboratory in Michigan,² where he met his future wife, Sophie Asgar. With the persuasion of his professors, he decided to start working on amalgam alloy at Dr. Peyton's lab.³ His relationship with his mentors, and later on colleagues and friends, had profound effect on his career and life.⁴ Dr. Asgar published his first article in dental materials at this time.