Henry Santeford

Biography

A native of Chicago Heights, Ill., Santeford earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from Michigan Tech and PhD from Colorado State University. In 1972, he joined the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences as a staff research hydrologist in Washington, D.C.

Santeford’s love of snow, ice and mountains made him the perfect candidate to head up the first National Weather Service/NOAA field station tasked with unraveling the mysteries of Alaska’s hydrology. His passion for teaching lured him back to academia at the University of Alaska, where he lectured at both the Anchorage and Fairbanks campuses. In 1974, he was the recipient of Michigan Tech’s Outstanding Young Alumni Award.

In 1980, Santeford joined the faculty of Michigan Tech teaching water resource engineering with a focus in cold regions hydrology in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Highly respected by his students, he received the Chi Epsilon Outstanding Faculty Award multiple times, was the faculty advisor for the MTU Ridge Roamers and the Four Wheelers Club and was an active board member of the John Wesley House. He retired as professor emeritus in June 2001.

Following his passing in February, several former students remembered Santeford on Facebook:

• “Dr. Santeford was one of my favorite professors at Tech. And I use the things I learned from him in my career to this day. I’m grateful for the energy and passion he invested in his students!”
• “One of my favorite professors at Tech! He was animated, funny and had passion for his position, students and community. I’ll never forget his State jokes and I learned a lot about hydrology!”
• “He made an impression on all of us — he was so lively and fun with his course work. I loved our labs — we were always making something cool to observe how water flowed and moved in different scenarios.”
• “Dr. Santeford’s last year teaching was during my senior year in 2001. He helped shape the course of my career with his classes in hydraulic structures and hydrology. I remember him and his lessons with great fondness.”

Santeford was a 35-year fixture in the holiday kitchens of Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly and, as the son of a carpenter, he constructed the large oak cross hanging in the sanctuary of Grace United Methodist Church in Houghton, where he was a member. Among his survivors are his wife of 52 years, Sally, and their daughter, Jodi Santeford of Chicago.

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