Ken Gregorich

Ken Gregorich died March 17, 2026. He was 67.

Gregorich was born on Oct. 21,1958. He studied chemistry at University of California, Berkeley, where he fell in love with superheavy element research, working under heavy-element pioneers Glenn Seaborg and Darleane Hoffman. After earning his doctor of philosophy, he spent the majority of his career working as a senior scientist in the Superheavy Element Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) until he was named leader of the group in 2014, a role he continued until his retirement in 2018. His research at LBNL was centered at the 88-inch Cyclotron, where he designed and installed the Berkeley Gas-Filled Separator, and led the team that was instrumental in the confirmation of the discoveries of the heaviest elements, including element 116, Livermorium. Following his retirement from LBNL, he missed the challenges of solving scientific problems, and returned to work part-time at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in 2019, where he worked to develop unique detection and analysis technologies for the Superheavy Element program as well as other programs in the Nuclear and Chemical Sciences Division in PLS.

He is survived by his wife and former LLNL employee Carola Gregorich, his three siblings, two stepchildren and three grandchildren.

A Celebration of Life is being planned at Lake Chabot's Cove Picnic Area on Oct. 11, 2026. Details are pending on this celebration and a memorial fund, which is being started to honor his lifelong loves of science and ultrarunning. For more details please contact Tashi Parsons-Davis at parsonsdavis1 [at] llnl.gov (parsonsdavis1[at]llnl[dot]gov) or Carola Gregorich at ca.gregorich [at] gmail.com (ca[dot]gregorich[at]gmail[dot]com).