A Bow of the Head for a Great Lidar Scientist and an Even Better Person: Dr. Rod Frehlich

by Steve Hannon

Rod in the field on one of his kite adventures with Ben Balsley's team.

I'm sad to post that Dr. Rod Frehlich, lidar phenomenology and signal processing guru, passed away last Friday in Boulder, Colorado. Rod finally lost his long and hard battle that had been a great ordeal for him and his loving wife Ilana.

It is sadly ironic that Rod's demise originated with a brain tumor, given that his extraordinary mind was what set him apart from his peers in the niche communities that are wave propagation, turbulence measurement, and lidar and radar signal processing and data analysis. A major portion of Rod's career work focused on coherent Doppler wind lidar and he provided breakthrough clarity on the underpinnings of those systems and how to optimize their performance, optimally assimilate their data, and apply them to challenges in meteorology and boundary layer physics.

Rod was kind enough to include me as a coauthor on a few of his numerous journal and conference papers.  We would dole out a small bit of data from one of our development or production lidar systems, and Rod would 'lay hands' on it, generating important new insights and results. Through the many years of his support to several CTI programs, I knew Rod to be perpetually upbeat and enthusiastic. It was often a challenge to wrap up our phone conversations. Those of you who ever discussed a technical topic on the phone with Rod know exactly what I mean.  He was a positive energy guy with unmatched skills and insights who always gave more than he received.

Rod spent most of his career with the University of Colorado at Boulder's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) and since 1998 simultaneously served as a Scientific Visitor to the National Center for Atmospheric Research. While he made important contributions to both these institutions, he really was an asset for the greater coherent lidar community, as well as several related communities. And as such, the world has experienced a notable and significant setback with his passing.

Rod sitting in front of some lidar data.

A dance party will be held in Boulder sometime in the near future to celebrate Rod's life. Rod and Ilana's passion for dance was legendary, so such a memorial is most fitting.

Godspeed, Rod Frehlich.