KU community mourns death of longtime employee Scott Jeffress

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas is mourning the death of Scott Jeffress, a facility manager with the KU Office of Research. Jeffress, a Baldwin City resident, died May 30.

“We are deeply saddened and offer sincere condolences to his dear ones,” said Bala Subramaniam, Dan F. Servey Distinguished Professor of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering and director of the Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis (CEBC). “Scott has been valuable to our center’s day-to-day functioning. He was very responsive to our requests regarding building maintenance issues and repairs, and he will be hard to replace.”

Jeffress had been at the university since 2001, when he joined the Office of Research as a facilities service worker. For 23 years, Jeffress ensured various KU facilities were able to meet the needs of researchers who rely on them to perform their work.

His most recent responsibilities were for the Life Sciences Research Laboratories (LSRL) and the Higuchi Biosciences Center.

“When I first started working in LSRL in 2002, Scott was the only other person in the building, and he was always kind and helpful to me,” said Chris Lyon, administrative director of the CEBC. “He knew the idiosyncrasies of the building and was proactive in trying to keep everything running for CEBC researchers.”

In January 2023, Jeffress was featured as an Unsung Hero of KU Research, in part for his years of experience in keeping research facilities running and his tenacity in spite of supply chain issues.

“Scott was a valued member of the facility managers team,” said Erik Lundquist, associate vice chancellor for research and professor of molecular biosciences, who supervised Jeffress. “His concern for his buildings and their occupants — and his deep institutional knowledge — will be missed.”

At Jeffress’ request, no services are planned.