Inside Clemson

Jonathan Black, Professor Emeritus of Bioengineering – December 5, 2020

Professor Emeritus of Bioengineering Jonathan Black, 81, died December 5, 2020, at Meadowood Senior Living in Worcester, Pennsylvania. Black was the first occupant of the Hunter Endowed Chair in Bioengineering from 1988 to 1993).

Annually, the department gives the Jonathan Black Leadership Award in honor of his influence as a game-changer in the field of biomaterials, the department and the orthopedic research community overall. He also donated his book collection to the department’s C. William Hall Document Center.

Black was professor of orthopedic research at University of Pennsylvania from 1971 to 1988. He was a consultant in biomaterials science and engineering from 1993 to 2019 and adjunct professor of biomedical engineering at Cornell University from 2011 to 2015.

Black authored several books, including Biological Performance of Materials, and many technical papers. He was a founding member and past president of the Society for Biomaterials and was a charter fellow of the Fellowship of Biomaterials Science and Engineering.

In addition to his wife, Toni Louise (Rogers) Black, he is survived by his children, Matthew Leonard Black of Havertown, Pennsylvania, Christina Louise Zable and her husband, Harold, of Palo Alto, California, and David Lionel Black and his wife, Kathryn, of Acton, Massachusetts; and two grandchildren.

His full obituary is posted online.