International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 52 (2009) 2921–2922

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International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhmt

In Memoriam

Professor Eddie Leonardi (1952–2008)

Professor Eddie Leonardi, Head of the School of Mechanical andManufacturing Engineering at The University of New South Wales(UNSW), lost a four month battle with melanoma and died in a
German hospital on Sunday, 14 December 2008. He was just 56
years old.
Eddie was a wise and helpful counsellor to his colleagues. We
would all turn to him with our computer problems, for example.
And whatever we asked him, no task was too great that he could
not solve it – and no task was too small that he would not bother.
He had great plans for the development of teaching and research in
the School, but he was not given the time to implement them. Hiscolleagues and friends outside the School have been overwhelmingin their feelings of tenderness, sadness and loss. They have referredagain and again to his kindness and generosity. One wrote ‘‘I reallyadmired him for his helpfulness and his sunny attitude . . . hebrought friendship and happiness to many”. Another said ‘‘We losta leader in this ﬁeld at such an early age . . . we share [with his family] this loss of a very respected member of our community.”
He gave his wholehearted attention to his graduate students,
and was careful and equally thorough in the preparation and delivery of his lectures to undergraduates. He was at the peak of his lifeand career, having recently been appointed Head of School, beenmarried and moved into a new home. He was a keen surfer all
his life – a passion that may perhaps have led to his illness – andin recent years developed, with his wife Victoria, a love of music
and a taste for the theatre. He was a loving and caring husband
and father, and a very dear friend to all who knew him. He was agenerous, kind, and ﬁne man, who loved Australia and enjoyed life.

doi:10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2009.01.038

Eddie Leonardi was born in Cles, Trento, in the north of Italy andcame to Australia at the age of 5. He obtained his B.Sc.(Eng.). inMechanical Engineering with Merit in 1977 and his Ph.D. in
1984, both from UNSW. He married Louisa Said in 1972 and they
had two sons Christopher and Adam. The marriage ended in
1992 and in 2006 he married Victoria Timchenko.
His undergraduate degree was obtained by part time study
while he was an Assistant Engineer with the NSW Department ofPublic Works. In 1977 he joined the staff of UNSW as a Research
Fellow and became a member of the academic staff in 1982. He
moved up the academic scale, becoming a Professor in 2000 andDeputy Head of School in 2004. He was appointed Head of Schoolin 2008. During his academic career he also held many short term
appointments as Visiting Professor or Visiting Fellow at overseas
universities and research institutions in Cergy (in the outskirts ofParis), Florida, Göttingen, Haifa, Harwell, Hong Kong, Limoges,Lyon, Marseille, Rome and Warsaw.
In addition to being Head of School he was, or had been, Director of Research, of Computing, of the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Research Laboratory and of the Refrigeration & Air
Conditioning (R&AC) Laboratory in the School. He developed theR&AC Laboratory into a major testing and research facility, the only
nationally accredited R&AC testing laboratory in Australia.
Eddie’s teaching interests included CFD, thermodynamics, R&AC
and heat transfer and his research covered CFD/CHT and also R&AC.
Eddie was a consultant to industry in refrigeration, air conditioning
and heat transfer. In addition, he was a consultant to governmenton the evaluation of Minimum Energy Performance Standards

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In Memoriam / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 52 (2009) 2921–2922

and the determination of appropriate testing and rating methods forair conditioners and commercial refrigeration systems and was amember of several national and international standards and otherprofessional committees. He had been Technical Editor and Chairman of the AIRAH Journal and editor or co-editor of many international conference proceedings, as well as Secretary or Co-Chair ofseveral international conferences. He was on the Honorary Editorial
Advisory Board of the International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer,
the International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, andother journals. He was External Academic Advisor to the Department of Building and Construction, City University of Hong Kong.
He received many academic awards and prizes, including several during his undergraduate degree, as well as the W.R. Ahern
Award for best technical paper in the AIRAH Journal for 1988, anAIRAH Citation for contributions to the Air Conditioning Industry
in 1994 and Life Membership of AIRAH for outstanding contributions to the AIRAH Journal in 1998. He was elected a Fellow of
AIRAH for contributions to the air conditioning industry in 2000.
He was also a member of other major mechanical engineering
institutions: Engineers Australia, ASME and ASHRAE.

In 2008 he was made ‘‘Industry Mentor” by the Air Conditioningand Refrigeration Equipment Manufacturers’ Association (AREMA)in recognition of his long-term contribution to the industry. Also in2008 he was elected a Fellow of the International Centre for Heatand Mass Transfer in recognition of his many contributions toICHMT Symposia and his long and active service on the ICHMTExecutive Committee.
He was the author, co-author or editor of eight books or chapters in books, and the author or co-author of 49 refereed journal
papers, 116 refereed conference papers in proceedings publishedas books, 42 other conference papers and 24 other publications.
On behalf of the editors of this journal and the world-wide heattransfer community, we offer our condolences to his parents Giuseppe and Bice Leonardi, his wife Victoria Timchenko, his sons
Christopher and Adam and his sister Julie Taranto and brother
Stephen.
He is tenderly missed by his many friends and colleagues
around the world, including

Graham de Vahl Davis*, Sydney, Australia
Faruk Arinç, Istanbul, Turkey
Tracie Barber, Sydney, Australia
Rachid Bennacer, Cergy, FranceErnest Donnelley, Canberra, Australia
Mohamed El Ganaoui, Limoges, France
Marco Fossa, Genova, Italy
Tomek Kowalewski, Warsaw, PolandSami Kara, Sydney, Australia* Corresponding author. Computational Fluid Dynamics Research Laboratory,
School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering,
The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Tel.: +61 2 9327 5706/0412 784 179(Mobile);
fax: +61 2 9327 5710.
E-mail address: g.devahldavis@unsw.edu.au (Graham de Vahl Davis)

Christophe Menezo, Le Bourget-Du-Lac, France
Chris Menictas, Sydney, Australia
Wally Minkowycz, Chicago, IL, USA
Alan Obrart, Sydney, Australia
John Reizes, Sydney, Australia
Brian Spalding, London, UKFulvio Stella, Rome, Italy
Micha Wolfshtein, Haifa, Israel
Richard Yuen, Hong Kong