Clifton G. Bergeron, 91, of Urbana, died on April 14, 2016.

Clifton Bergeron was born January 5, 1925, at Los Angeles, CA, son of Lewis G. and Rose Dengel Bergeron. He married Laura Kaario on June 9, 1950, at Milwaukee, WI. She died on January 19, 2010.

Surviving are daughter Ann Bergeron (Kevin Fahey) of Urbana; son Louis Bergeron, of San Francisco, CA; niece Carrie Benvenuti (Mike) of Newport Coast, CA, and nephew Mike Marsh (Pam), of Mesa, AZ.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his sister, Shirley Marsh.

Clif served from 1943-1946 as a corporal in the U.S. Army 14th Armored Division in England, France, and Germany during World War II. He was awarded the European-African Campaign Medal with 2 Bronze Battle Stars.

He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1950 with a degree in ceramic engineering and was subsequently employed in the research and development laboratories of the A.O. Smith Corp. in Milwaukee, WI. In 1955 he joined the Whirlpool Corp. of St. Joseph, MI, as a staff engineer. Returning to the U of I in 1957, he was employed as a research associate in the Department of Ceramic Engineering. He received an M.S. in 1959 and a Ph.D. in ceramic engineering in 1961. He was appointed an assistant professor in 1961, full professor in 1967 and was appointed head of the Department of Ceramic Engineering in 1978. He retired from the university in 1988 but remained active as a consultant to industry.

With his graduate students he conducted research in the areas of high temperature materials, properties of glass, crystallization kinetics in glasses, and authored over 100 research papers, and coauthored a textbook on high temperature chemical reactions.

In recognition of his many contributions to research, teaching, and to his profession, he was named a fellow of the American Ceramic Society in 1967. Among the awards he received was the U of I College of Engineering Everitt Award for Teaching Excellence in 1975, the American Ceramic Society Outstanding Educator Award in 1988, and the ACS Greaves-Walker Award for Professional Achievement in 2005. He was especially pleased when a group of former students established an endowed scholarship in his name in 2004.

He enjoyed fishing, woodworking, and nature photography. He was a member of the Nature Conservancy, Izaak Walton League, Wilderness Society, Sierra Club, and Prairie Rivers Network. He served as a volunteer reader for the sight-impaired at the Illinois Radio Reader for a number of years.

He was also an avid home winemaker for many years, advancing the art of making wine from Concord grapes, an unusual choice at the time.

For many years, Clif and his family enjoyed camping and fishing vacations with his parents throughout northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. In 1968, Clif and Laura bought land on a small lake near the Salt Fork River and with their children and the help of family friends, built a cabin. For the rest of their lives they spent time at the cabin whenever they could, enjoying many happy weekends relaxing, fishing, and forming enduring friendships with neighboring cabin owners.

In later years, they enjoyed visiting Meadowbrook Park, where a small grove of trees and a bench memorialize Laura's love for the park. Clif moved to Clark-Lindsey Village in 2006, where he was an active participant in daily life, serving on numerous committees, as well as contributing articles and nature photographs to The Village Voice magazine published by CLV residents. He eventually rose to the position of co-chair of the magazine, then chair, serving in those capacities for several years.

His photographs of the many animals, insects, and plants in nearby Meadowbrook Park and the birds (and occasional uninvited squirrels) that dined at his birdfeeder were so enjoyed by his fellow residents that he was given a bulletin board at CLV, Clif's Nature Corner, where he posted photographs with informative and entertaining captions and quizzes on a regular basis, bringing the natural world indoors to share, particularly with those who had difficulty visiting the park themselves.

He collaborated on projects in the workshop with his fellow residents, including building a new scoreboard for use in the outdoor shuffleboard games in the summer.

He thoroughly enjoyed living at Clark-Lindsey Village, saying it was the perfect place for him to be at that stage of his life. Clif's family would like to extend special thanks to all the staff at CLV, who do so much to make life there so rich and pleasant. A celebration of Clif's life will be held at a later date in Urbana, IL.

Memorials may be made to Prairie Rivers Network or the Clifton Bergeron Scholarship Fund in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois or to an organization of the donor's choice.