Professor Dennis R. Heldman, Ph.D. nurtured the food engineering discipline from its infancy to its current global stature. He charted the discipline’s growth through selfless leadership roles in academia, in industry, and in our professional societies. His exceptional talent has inspired generations of food scientists and food engineers worldwide.
This leading scholar of food engineering had a career spanning seven decades. He earned his B.S. (1960) and M.S. (1962) in Dairy Technology at Ohio State and Ph.D. (1964) in Ag Engineering at Michigan State. Dr. Heldman wrote 32 influential books or book chapters with 20 as first author. He published 168 peer reviewed articles. His textbooks are influential, such as Introduction to Food Engineering, which is translated into several languages for worldwide training of thousands of students.
Dr. Heldman’s early research on the principles of food freezing developed computational methods for designing and improving processes and equipment for the frozen food industry worldwide. This scholarly work advanced sustainable food processing technologies with green impact, driving innovation in energy conservation and process design. His pioneering studies in the 1980s demonstrated the linkages between food and energy losses along the food chain and identified approaches for a sustainable food system long before ‘sustainable’ was a buzzword.
Denny was elected President of both the Institute of Food Technologists and of Phi Tau Sigma, the Honor Society of Food Science and Technology. He received multiple top-status awards, including the Nicholas Appert Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Institute of Food Technologists, the Life Achievement Award from the International Association for Engineering and Food, and election into the International Academy of Food Science and Technology.
He was an elected Fellow of IFT, ASAE, and IAFST. He was an American Council on Education Fellow, just one of 40 faculty members in the nation that year. He was bestowed the 2013 Carl R. Fellers Award from Phi Tau Sigma for exemplary contributions to academia, industry, and government. His outstanding talents in technology transfer were recognized with the 2017 Minnesota Harold Macy Award. He was also a Member-at-Large of SoFE.
Denny held faculty positions at Michigan State University, University of Missouri-Columbia, University of California-Davis, Rutgers University and The Ohio State University. He served as the University of Missouri Food Science Department Chair. Denny provided food industry leadership as a Vice President at the Campbell Soup Company, as the Executive Vice-President of Scientific Affairs for the National Food Processors Association, and as a Principal of the Weinberg Consulting Group. In 2012, he returned to Ohio State as the inaugural Seiberling Endowed Professor of Food Engineering.
Denny’s outstanding academic service included recruitment of faculty talent. While helping the Seiberling Professorship search, it became evident that he was by far the best candidate. Since joining Ohio State in 2012 Professor Heldman has attracted one of the largest graduate student groups in two units, Food Ag and Biological Engineering (FABE) and Food Science and Technology (FST), advising 36 highly qualified graduate students. Many who earned Heldman degrees now have successful careers in industry, academics, and government throughout the globe.
Most were unaware that Professor Heldman retired in 2024 as he did not miss a day of discovery, outreach, or learning. He continued teaching highly relevant courses such as Sustainability of the Food Supply Chain. His open office door welcomed colleagues seeking friendly advice and welcomed students seeking inspiration. Those who did not enter this open door also benefit, as Denny Heldman improved humanity with a remarkable career that brought honor and global impact to food engineering.
Dennis passed at the Ross Heart Hospital in Columbus, Ohio on Thursday, April 3rd, 2025. He was surrounded by his loved ones: his sons Brian and Roger Heldman, their partners, Megan Heldman and Liz Tyo respectively, his daughter Melanie Heldman, along with her partner, Jacob Olausen, and his loving wife, Louise A. (Lou Ann) Campbell. Even in his last moments, his kind and compassionate nature shone through. It was clear to everyone at the Ross that Dennis was a wonderful person, and very loved by his family. He will be dearly missed by many.
A memorial service for Dennis will be held Sunday, April 13, 2025 at 1:00 PM at Schoedinger Northwest, 1740 Zollinger Road, Columbus, OH 43221, followed by a visitation from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM. A link to the service may be found here.
His family, request that those attending, either in person or virtually, honor his professorship and his dedication to research and education by wearing university colors: their own or those from any school that they feel affiliated with.
We ask those wishing to make contributions in Denny’s memory to do so to The Dr. Rohini Desai Mulchandani Endowment Fund for Undergraduate Student Research in Food Science and Technology at The Ohio State University Foundation, PO Box 736096, Chicago, IL 60673-6096 or give online at go.osu.edu/Mulchandani For checks, please write fund #483614 on the memo line and in memory of Dr. Heldman. This fund supports core interests of Denny’s by stimulating undergraduates to begin developing their skills in research, and gaining experience in presenting their work in a public forum.
