Mack Breazeale

In 2008, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers awarded Breazeale its lifetime Achievement Award. He was honored by the Acoustical Society of America with its Silver Medal in Physical Acoustics in 1988, and served as associate editor of Non-Linear Acoustics for the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America from 1997 to 2001. He was a fellow of the ASA, IEEE and the Institute of Acoustics in Great Britain, and a member of the American Physical Society and Phi Kappa Phi honor society.

"Mack Breazeale was a physicist's physics professor who in his career managed to make major contributions not only to the field of non-linear optics but also to non-linear ultrasound," said NCPA Director Jack Seiner. "Considering the NCPA's use of ultrasound, Mack will be sorely missed."

His professional career started in 1958 as a Fulbright Fellow in Stuttgart, Germany. Upon his return to the U.S., he became an assistant professor at Michigan State University, where he earned his doctorate in 1957.

In 1962, Breazeale joined the faculty at the University of Tennessee, where he taught for 25 years. While at UT, he served as a consultant for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Naval Research Laboratory, Leeds & Northrup Corp., McDonnell-Douglas Corp. and the Applications Research Corp.

He joined the UM faculty in 1988 as a distinguished research professor of physics at NCPA. While at the university, he also served as a consultant for Alcorn Corp.

"Mack was a giant in the field, a pioneer of non-linear acoustics and highly regarded around the globe," said UM colleague Joel Mobley. "Above all, he was a kindly Tennessee gentleman who was dear to all who knew him."

A Virginia native, Breazeale received his bachelor's degree from Berea College in Kentucky in 1953 and his master's degree from the University of Missouri at Rolla in 1954. His specialties were nonlinear acoustics and acoustooptic interactions.

Breazeale is survived by his wife, Louise Hanna Scott Breazeale; one daughter, Jennifer Lee Breazeale Ball and her husband, David, of Knoxville, Tenn.; two sons, David Mark Breazeale and his wife, Karen, of Corinth, and William Carl Breazeale of Sacramento, Calif.; two stepsons, Charles M. Scott Jr. and his wife, Rebecca, of Clinton, and Stephen H. Scott and his wife, Linda, of Flora; one brother, Clarence W. Breazeale of Morristown, Tenn.; five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Breazeale was preceded in death by his first wife, Joanne O' Dell, and by his stepdaughter, Amy Louise Scott.

Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Monday at Oxford-University United Methodist Church. A graveside service, time TBA, is scheduled for Wednesday (Sept. 23) at Shipley Cemetery in Bristol, Tenn. Visitation is set from noon to 2 p.m. Monday at Oxford-University United Methodist Church, where he was a member.

The family requests that expressions of sympathy or memorial contributions in Breazeale's memory be made to: Berea College, CPO 2216, Berea, KY 40404 or to Oxford-University United Methodist Church, 424 South 10th Street, Oxford, MS 38655.

For online condolences and a guest registry, visit http://wallerfuneralhome.com.