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Vasilios Petros Evangelou was born on January 8, 1947 in Stavros Greece, a small village in the northern prefecture of Halkidiki. His parents, Petros and Glykaria (Zotou) Evangelou, were ethnic Greek refugees who had escaped the religious persecution of communist Albania. Vasilios grew up in the neighboring seaside village of Olympiada, the youngest of four brothers. At age fourteen, he left his tiny village for the city of Thessaloniki to attend The American Farm School, a trade school that taught modern farming techniques to rural Greek boys. It was at the Farm School that he was given the name "Bill" which is the nick name used by most Greek boys named Vasilios who immigrate to English speaking countries.
At age eighteen, Bill completed his studies at the Farm School and was Valedictorian of his senior class. It was the custom of the School to award its top student with livestock to help him begin his farming career. However, Bill did not have land on which to raise animals so the school administrators asked him what he wanted. His answer: "I want to go to America." The school and several sponsors made this dream a reality. In December of 1965, Bill arrived in Roseville, California at the home of David and Dolly Fiddyment to live and work on their turkey ranch and attend Roseville High School. He graduated from Roseville High in June 1967.
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He received his Associate of Arts Degree from Sierra Junior College in 1967 and from there transferred to California State University, Chico were he received his Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (1972) and his Masters of Science in Plant and Soil Sciences (1974). He met Shelly Bradley at an international dinner in 1973 and they were married in Sacramento California in December of 1974. Bill had been accepted to graduate school for his doctoral studies at the Univesity of California, Davis upon his completion of his Masters, but there were no funds being offered to foreign students in those days so he accepted a position as an instructor of Agriculture at San Joaquin Delta Community College in Stockton, California. He and Shelly both worked hard to save the money required to attend U.C. Davis beginning in the Fall of 1976. He completed all work required for his PhD by July 1980 and accepted the position of Soils Extension Specialist at the University of Kentucky just in time for the arrival of daughter Julia in August 1980. For the first time, he became known as Dr. Evangelou. Son Peter was born in 1983 and Bill's responsibilities grew to include all of the usual parental duties from soccer coach to active participant in the small Greek Orthodox Church in Lexington. Dr. Evangelou's career at the University of Kentucky spanned nearly nineteen years and included a change in appointment to Research Professor of Soil/Water Chemistry.
In January 1999, Dr. Evangelou accepted the Iowa State University Agronomy Department's offer as Professor of Soil/Water Physical Chemistry. During his career, he published two advanced textbooks, fourteen book chapters and more than 150 scientific publications in refereed journals, national and international conference proceedings and other professional publications. His areas of research included surface chemistry of clay minerals, reaction kinetics and thermodynamics, metal sulfide chemistry, and control mechanisms of acid drainage.
The depth and breath of his research program allowed him the opportunity to publish two advanced college-level textbooks since 1995. The first book, Pyrite Oxidation and its Control (CRC/Lewis Press, Boca Raton, Fl.), is a reference textbook which addresses acid mine drainage, surface chemistry of clay minerals and iron sulfides, oxidation mechanisms of pyrite, microbial role, kinetics, control, ameliorates, limitations, microencapsulation. Because of his expertise on pyrite oxidation and its control acquired through his research program, he taught more than 30 short courses by invitation on the subject of environmental soil/water chemistry, pyrite chemistry and acid mine drainage (AMD) for Federal, State and private industry professionals in both North and South America. More than 2000 professionals from the U.S.A., Canada, Europe, South America and South Africa attended his short courses. He also conducted short courses by invitation for the U.S. Department of Energy and Department of Interior personnel as well as personnel of the Department of Natural Resources from the states of Kentucky, Illinois, West Virginia, Utah, New Mexico and coal mine industry affiliated members of the American Society of Surface Mine Reclamation.
The second book, Environmental Soil & Water Chemistry: Principles and Application (John, Wiley & Sons, NY), is a fundamental principles and application textbook on the chemistry of soil & water, behavior and treatment of soil-water contaminants, agricultural chemicals, acid drainage, soil-water restoration, revegetation, sodic soils, and brackish waters. Published in late 1998, it is an advanced undergraduate/graduate level textbook and approximately 2,000 copies have been purchased and several professors representing the soil chemistry and environmental engineering disciplines from around the country are using it as textbook.
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Dr. Evangelou taught two graduate level courses at Iowa State University. A number of his graduate students and post-doctoral Fellows hold university teaching/research positions (four in the U.S. and another four abroad). He was recognized for his scientific contributions with numerous awards, including the Marion L. & Chrystie M. Jackson Soil Science Award, Soil Science Society of America, for outstanding contributions in the areas of soil chemistry and mineralogy, and graduate student education; Fellow, American Society of Agronomy; Fellow, Soil Science Society of America; U.S. Patent on "Peroxide Induced Oxidation Proof Phosphate Surface Coating on Iron Sulfides"; U.S. and Canadian Patent on "Oxidation Proof Silicate Surface Coating on Iron Sulfides"; Senior Fulbright Scholar Award; and Thomas Poe Cooper Award, University of Kentucky, College of Agriculture, 1994, for distinguished achievement in research. Dr. Evangelou was National Chair of the Soil Chemistry division of Soil Science Society of America (2001) and was in charge of organizing that division's national scientific meetings as well as a symposium on Surface Chemistry of (Bio)organic Molecules in Soils, for the national meetings of the American Society of Agronomy in Charlotte, NC. Dr. Evangelou also organized the 2002 International Bouyoucos Conference on (Bio)Availability held in Sani, Halkidiki, Greece.
Memorials can be given in his memory to the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association. Memorials to the American Heart Association can be made via telephone at 1-800-AHA-USA-1, on-line at www.americanheart.org, or checks may be mailed to American Heart Association 5375 Southwest 7th St. Topeka, KS 66606. Memorials to the American Cancer Society can be made via telephone at 1-800-ACS-2345, on-line at http://www.cancer.org/, or checks may be mailed to American Cancer Society 8364 Hickman Suite D., Des Moines, IA 50325. Both associations request the donor’s name and address, the name of the deceased and the person whom they would like to receive the acknowledgement card.