Bernard Ransil, 74
Dr. Bernard (Bernie) J. Ransil, mathematician and medical researcher, died on April 1 in Boston after a brief illness. He was 74.
Beginning in the mid-1960s in Boston, Ransil worked with members of the Harvard medical research community, where he was among the first to apply computers and advanced computational statistics to clinical studies. He retired from Harvard’s Department of Medicine as Associate Professor in 1996 but continued to provide his services to the research community at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Hospital. He was author/coauthor of over 125 publications on computational, medical and medical-ethical topics.
Early in his career, Ransil worked on molecular orbital computations at Catholic University of America, where he received a PhD. From 1956 to 1960, he worked in Robert S. Mulliken’s Laboratory of Molecular Structure at the University of Chicago, where he and others used computers to measure orbital paths for small molecules.
The lab’s work helped establish Mulliken’s Molecular Orbital theory, laid the groundwork for the then-new field of Computational Chemistry, and ultimately led to a Nobel Prize in Chemistry for Mulliken in 1966. Ransil subsequently edited Mulliken’s papers, which appeared in 1989 as “Life of a Scientist: An Autobiographical Account of the Development of Molecular Orbital Theory.”
After receiving a medical degree at the University of Chicago in 1964, Ransilreceived a Guggenheim fellowship and traveled to Quantum Chemistry centers throughout Europe where he presented his Computational Chemistry research work.
He created the Vernon F. Gallagher endowed chair at Duquesne University in 1999 for the study and integration of science, philosophy and theology. His theater and musical reviews appeared in the Boston Globe and the Boston Pilot.
Ransil resided in Boston’s Mission Hill district. He is survived by Sr. Michele D.P. of Greensburg, PA, Janet Pack of Bethel Park, PA, Alise Ransil of Hawaii and Leonard Ransil of Eire, PA, Joseph of Walnutcreek, CA, Donald of McDonald, PA, and Sr. Dorothy Ransil of Etna, PA, and is also survived by many nieces and nephews.
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Dr Ransil was my neighbor and landlord. Another neighbor and I pulled this obituary together. Bernie had a very scientific turn of mind, reflected in the meticulous care applied to his several Mission Hill properties, which he maintained in the face of the neighborhood's general decades' long deterioriation [that has since been reversed, at least in real estate terms]. He also was very devout, a Renaissance Man, and a keen student of Thomas Aquinus and other Church Fathers. He engoyed the company of great minds of the literary kind. Once my car got seriously sideswiped on the street, and I was ready to bail on the Hill. He hoped that C. and J. and I could stay, and he found a parking spot for me on his land overlooking the golden city. Was a great favor that I will always remember. -JV
8:49:35 AM 
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