It is with great sadness that we must announce that Dr. Françoise Sauriol passed away. Dr. Sauriol had served as an NMR Facility manager at top Canadian institutions for 40 years. She obtained her PhD in Chemistry and NMR spectroscopy at the University of Montreal. In 1983 Dr. Sauriol was appointed the NMR Facility Manager in the Department of Chemistry at McGill University. She remained in this role until she moved to Queen’s Chemistry in 1998, where she served as the NMR Manager for 25 years. The 25-year milestone was celebrated this year during a dinner given by the Principal and Vice chancellor Patrick Deane (Jun 1, 2023).
At Queen’s Dr. Sauriol was an integral member of the Department, and much beloved for her collegiality and kind spirit. She was well known for her brilliance in solving molecular structures by NMR spectroscopy and was actively sought out for her expertise by many research groups in our department and beyond. This led to Dr. Sauriol appearing as a co-author on over 60 publications. Dr. Sauriol was also well known for her dedication to our students. In addition to training hundreds of students on how to use NMR instruments, Dr. Sauriol also spend countless hours in assisting students in setting up sophisticated NMR experiments and in helping them interpret their NMR spectra. Dr. Sauriol was also a passionate teacher and served as the designated instructor for our graduate courses in NMR spectroscopy since her appointment in 1998. In 2015, Dr. Sauriol was presented with a Special Recognition for Staff Award by Queen’s to formally recognize and celebrate her contributions.
Dr. Sauriol was predeceased by her husband Gabriel Lord and is survived by her sister Cecile Sauriol and her brother Gilbert and several nieces and nephews.
Dr. Sauriol will be greatly missed by the Department.