June 5, 2024

The University mourns the passing of Everett Earle Crisman, a research professor emeritus of chemical engineering and a founding member of URI’s Forensic Science Partnership, who passed away June 2 in Providence. He was 86.

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Everett graduated with a B.S. in physics from Carnegie Mellon University and went on to receive his master’s and then his Ph.D. in engineering in 1984, both from Brown University. Everett worked for Westinghouse in Pittsburgh for eight years and was a visiting scientist at the Air Force Research Laboratory on Hanscom AFB in Massachusetts.

Everett served as a research professor at the University of Rhode Island from 1998 until 2012, when he obtained emeritus status, and continued as a research affiliate until 2020. At URI, Crisman worked with colleagues to found the University’s Forensic Science Partnership in 1999, an interdisciplinary partnership that would break through college and department boundaries to enhance education and research in forensic science, and served as its co-director. 

Everett was an 8th degree black belt, studying under the late Master Charles Earle and was a Sensei of Uechi-Ryu Karate School of Rhode Island. He also obtained his pilot’s license in 1979 and flew for almost four decades.  

A Woonsocket resident for the last 38 years, Everett is survived by his loving wife, Sharon Knettell; his sister, Nancy Crisman Eisele; his nephew, Jeffrey Eisele; his niece, Jane Eisele Mills; and 5 great-nieces and nephews. 

Visiting hours for close family and friends will be on Saturday, June 8, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Kubaska Funeral Home at 33 Harris Ave, Woonsocket. 

Read the complete obituary.