Dr. William Brian VanderHeyden, born in Milwaukee, WI in 1960 passed away at home on October 14. A lifelong Sooners fan, Brian received his bachelor degree in chemical engineering from the University of Oklahoma and went on to earn his PhD from Northwestern University. During his career he worked for Amoco, BP, and Los Alamos National Laboratory and served as a Senior Policy Analyst for the White House. During his career, he received numerous honors including an R&D 100 award for leading a team to develop CartaBlanca, a novel application of JAVA to create a high-efficiency, object-oriented, general-purpose computer simulation environment.

Brian will be missed by his wife, Kelly; his children Kyle VanderHeyden; Jessica Carey and her husband, Bobby; his sister Lissa VanderHeyden; his brother James and his wife, Tammy VanderHeyden; along with their children Maddie, Nick and Nick’s wife, Layne; his surviving sisters-in-law, Tracy Skaggs, Carol Anderson, her husband Mark, and their daughter Caroline.

Brian was a sports car enthusiast who enjoyed raising the hair on the neck of family and friends with his driving flair. He looked forward to the start of each football season to watch his Sooners and Packers. He also loved music and comedy and had a wicked sense of humor. Memories of his sharing these will continue to bring a smile to all who knew him. He had a strong intellect and would passionately share and defend his point of view. And under his grouchy demeanor he had a tender heart and a sensitive soul.

We will continue to love and miss him.