USU professor dies of leukemia

Jeff Baldwin, an aircraft maintenance professor at Utah State University and Providence City councilman, was told April 24 that he had ten days to live.

Diagnosed with leukemia, an aggressive cancer of the blood forming tissues, Baldwin died the next day.

According to a Facebook post by the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences at USU, Baldwin was “a remarkable mentor who emphasized to his students the high level of responsibility entrusted to aircraft mechanics,” and “always has his students’ best interests as his focus.”

Baldwin graduated from USU with a degree in aeronautics in 1985 and had extensive experience as an aircraft mechanic and teacher. He even working as an engineer on the B1-B Lancer and space shuttle programs.

Serving as a councilman for Providence City since 2014, Baldwin was in the first year of a new term, having been elected in November.

Providence Mayor John Drew was “stunned hearing him tell me the news,” according to a press release in the Providence City newsletter. “I was so choked by what I had heard, I could not get the words out.”

Drew wrote that Baldwin and his wife, Debbie, came to his office April 24 to tell him that he was resigning from the office due to the terminal diagnoses he had received earlier that day.

“He said he really wanted to make the council meeting that night as he said there were important items on the agenda,” Drew wrote.

According to the press release, Baldwin prioritized his students until the end, telling the doctor his plan for the rest of his life was to “finish out the semester” as he “still had classes to teach,” but the doctor told him “No, you don’t.”

“Jeff was always prepared and often brought a unique viewpoint and perspective to the discussion,” Drew wrote. “We often tabled a discussion because Jeff brought up an angle the rest of us had not considered.”

Baldwin’s death was met with a large social reaction, causing multiple current and former students to express via Facebook just how much Baldwin influenced their college careers and lives. Many also shared the link to his family’s fund.

“Jeff was the best thing to ever happen to my academic and professional life,” Anthony Blake Van Natter wrote on his Facebook. “If you were in his classes, you know how much he cared.”

—carter.moore@aggiemail.usu.edu

@carterthegrreat