Faculty,
family, friends remember giving, accomplished
professor
By Akiko Sugimori
On-line Forty-Niner
He
was a professor who cared. He loved teaching,
but loved his students just as much.
Donald
E. Zimmerman was remembered as a valued
colleague and caring professor Thursday
by the Cal State Long Beach community at
the North Campus Center Conference Room.
 Zimmerman,
56, a professor of the engineering technology
department CSULB, died Jan. 21 due to heart
failure.
Zimmerman received a bachelor’s degree in
electrical engineering from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in 1968 and a master’s
degree in 1970. He lectured both at MIT
and Harvard Medical School, and developed
an interest in medicine. In 1976 he earned
a medical degree from Washington University
School of Medicine, St. Louis.
He worked as the director of Emergency Services
at Long Beach Memorial Hospital, and lectured
to church and civic groups, paramedics,
nurses and laboratory personnel.
Zimmerman was drawn back to academia, and
joined the CSULB faculty as an associate
professor of electrical engineering in 1987.
Sarah A. MacCallum, who worked with Zimmerman
for five years as the part time secretary
of the engineering department, described
him as, “kind, well balanced, sensitive,
smart and funny.”
“When he comes to our office, it’s always
rush of the wind,” MacCallum said. “He hugged
me really strong and always made me feel
like a special, only person in the world.
I don’t know why he had to die.”
Thomas Bui, senior engineering technology
major , said: “He loves teaching very much,
he cares about a lot of students.” Bui took
two of Dr. Zimmerman’s classes last semester,
and was very shocked at the death of the
one of his favorite professors.
“I learned a lot from him not only about
electronics but also how to make efforts
and some life lessons. He didn’t forget
to bring me reward later on,” Bui said.
“If we had a problem with building project,
even it was for another class, it didn’t
matter. He always tried to help us,” said
Javier Lira, senior electronics engineer
major. Lira was lectured by Zimmerman before
and looking forward to take his class again
in this semester.
If Lira could tell something to Zimmerman
now, he would have wanted to say, “You changed
my life . . . you encouraged me and gave
a sense of self-esteem.”
Zimmerman is survived by his wife Linda,
son Kenny, brother Robert, sisters Laura
Scott and Nancy Giller and mother Frances,
as well as numerous other relatives.
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