2011 deaths

Terkel Nissen Rosenqvist (2 October 1921 – 1 April 2011) was a Norwegian chemist and metallurgist.

Edward Jones "Red" Borom (October 30, 1915 – January 7, 2011) was an American second baseman who played two seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Detroit Tigers. Born in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Borom was 28 years old before he made it to the big leagues. He only played one full season in the major leagues, and that season saw him win the 1945 World Series. Borom also played professional and semi-pro baseball for over 15 years from the mid-1930s into the 1950s.
Borom served in the United States Army briefly in 1943, but was released because of migraine headaches. He recalled: "Two days after getting home, I got a call from Jack Zeller, general manager of Detroit ... Four days after getting out of the service, I was in training camp with Detroit in Evansville, Indiana. I realized it was wartime, but there were some good players still in the majors."In 1945, Borom played the entire season with Detroit. Playing in place of injured second baseman Eddie Mayo, Borom batted over .300 during the September pennant drive.
Borom played in 55 games for the Tigers in 1945, batting .269 with a .307 on-base percentage. He played in two games of the 1945 World Series. Describing his appearance in the World Series, Borom said: "I hit a ground ball up the middle, off the glove of pitcher Hank Borowy. The shortstop, Roy Hughes, threw me out on an extremely close play. I thought I had a base hit." Borom also pinch-ran for catcher Bob Swift in game three.
When asked about his biggest thrill in baseball, Borom responded: "When Hank Greenberg hit the bases-loaded home run against the Browns [in September 1945] and we were behind 3–2 at the time. I was the runner on third, and when I saw the ball headed for the seats and knew we were in the World Series. Nothing could surpass that."In 1946, as veteran players returned from World War II, Borom did not make Detroit's roster. Borom played several more years of minor league and semipro ball. Borom was involved with two NBC tournament titlists – Wichita's Boeing Bombers in 1942 as player and Sinton, Texas, in 1951 as manager. Reflecting on his career, Red observed, "I guess a career that looked like it was headed nowhere for so long turned out pretty well."
Borom was inducted into the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame in 1978 and the Kansas Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996.After retiring from baseball, Borom worked 25 years for a freight company in Dallas. He died on January 7, 2011, in Dallas as one of the oldest living former Major Leaguers. He attended Society for American Baseball Research meetings in the DFW area (Hall-Ruggles Chapter) for many years.

Lee R. Scherer (September 20, 1919 – May 7, 2011) was an American aeronautical engineer and director of NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) from January 19, 1975 to September 2, 1979. Prior to his appointment as KSC director, Scherer was director of NASA's Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, responsible for the conduct of advanced aeronautical flight research.

Georgette Seabrooke (aka Georgette Seabrooke Powell; August 2, 1916 – December 27, 2011), was an American muralist, artist, illustrator, art therapist, non-profit chief executive and educator. She is best known for her 1936 mural, Recreation in Harlem at Harlem Hospital in New York City, which was restored and put on public display in 2012 after being hidden from view for many years.

Tom Riley (January 9, 1929 – July 21, 2011) was an American lawyer from Cedar Rapids, Iowa who served two terms in the Iowa House of Representatives and four in the Iowa Senate.

Donald J. Canney (October 8, 1930 – March 20, 2011) was an American politician and civil engineer who served as the mayor of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for twenty-two years from 1969 to 1992. Canney is Cedar Rapids' longest-serving mayor to date.

Norman Lee Rathje (April 27, 1936 – December 9, 2011) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at North Park College—now known as North Park University—from 1967 to 1968.

John Henry Geiger (June 19, 1926 – January 10, 2011) was an American architect and engineer who served as the National Commander of The American Legion from 1971 to 1972.

T. J. Bass, real name Thomas J. Bassler, MD (July 7, 1932 – December 13, 2011) was an American science fiction author and physician, having graduated from the University of Iowa in 1959. Bassler is also known for his controversial claim that nonsmokers who are able to complete a marathon in under four hours can eat whatever they wish and never suffer a fatal heart attack.John Robbins has noted that Jim Fixx approvingly quoted Bassler in his best-selling book, The Complete Book of Running. Fixx died from heart failure at 52 while running.Two of Bass' novels, Half Past Human (1971) and The Godwhale (1974), were nominated for the Nebula Award. In both his books the Hive was a three trillion population of 'nebishes' - humans who had four toes and all aggressiveness bred out of them.

Howard Heemstra was an architect, professor of architecture, and photographer. He was born in Orange City, Iowa on December 22, 1928 and died in Ames, Iowa on July 22, 2011. He graduated from Northwestern Academy (1946), and Northwestern Junior College in Orange City in 1948 before earning a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Iowa State University in 1952.
After working briefly in Sioux City for an architecture firm Heemstra joined the US Army and served two years in the Korean War. After returning from abroad he applied for graduate studies to Harvard University and the Cranbrook Academy of Arts in Bloomfield, Michigan. Since he could not afford Harvard's tuition he enrolled at Cranbrook and earned his Master of Architecture degree in 1958. Heemstra worked twelve years as an architect before joining Iowa State University in 1966. He became a full professor in 1976 and continued to teach until his retirement in 2003, when he was named Professor Emeritus.
Heemstra worked at Ray Crites' architectural office in Cedar Rapids when the commission for Stephens Auditorium, part of the Iowa State Center on the Iowa State University campus, came to the firm, and he was the project architect for the building which was completed in 1969. Stephens Auditorium was selected as the "Building of the Century" by the Iowa chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 2004.