Laura Gilliom
Laura Gilliom, an analyst in the Lab’s Nuclear Assessment Program (NAP), died March 29, in Livermore. She was 52.
Born in Boston, Mass., she was raised in Memphis, Tenn. Gilliom graduated from St. Mary’s Episcopal School in Memphis as valedictorian in 1976 and then earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, summa cum laude, from Princeton University in 1980. She went on to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 1986.
Her thesis work in Ring Opening Metathesis Polymerization (ROMP) has been recognized as contributing to the 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her graduate advisor Bob Grubbs.
After graduating from Caltech in 1986, Gilliom held various professional and management positions in national security at both Sandia National Labs and LLNL, where she served as the deputy division leader in the Lab’s Chemical Science Division after serving six years as the director for University Programs.
She was active in the community with the Livermore Rotary and Expanding Your Horizons in Math and Science conference.
She enjoyed travel, especially family vacations to Hawaii, hiking and cycling with her family and dining in downtown Livermore. She was an avid reader and lifelong seeker of knowledge. She loved the arts and was an active participant and advocate for the performing arts in Livermore, attending many of the concerts and operas at the Bankhead Theater with her mother Patricia and family.
She was preceded in death by her father Richard Gilliom and her brother Bruce Gilliom, both of Memphis.
She leaves her husband of 27 years, Alan Sylwester; her children, Lauren and Rachel Sylwester of Livermore; her mother Patricia Gilliom of Livermore; her sister and brother-in-law, Andrea and Ben Anderson of Memphis; her mother and father-in-law, Doris and Alfred Sylwester of Riverside and many beloved nieces, nephews, other relatives and close friends.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, April 5, at Our Savior Lutheran Church, Livermore.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent in Laura's memory to St. Mary's Episcopal Schoolin Memphis,TN; Expanding Your Horizons; or the Livermore Performing Arts Center.
