The Queen’s community is remembering Françoise Sauriol, the manager of the NMR Facility of the Department of Chemistry for 25 years, who died Aug. 16, at the age of 72.

Dr. Sauriol first arrived at Queen’s in 1998, working in the Department of Chemistry as the manager of the NMR Facility. She previously held a similar role at McGill University for 15 years. She obtained her PhD in Chemistry and NMR spectroscopy at the University of Montreal.

Dr. Sauriol was an integral member of the Department of Chemistry, and was respected and beloved for her collegiality and kind spirit. She was well known for her brilliance in solving molecular structures by NMR spectroscopy and was actively sought out for her expertise by many research groups at the university and beyond. This led to Dr. Sauriol appearing as a co-author on more than 60 publications.

She was also well known for her dedication to students. In addition to training hundreds of students on how to use NMR instruments, Dr. Sauriol also spent countless hours in assisting them in setting up sophisticated NMR experiments and in helping them interpret their NMR spectra. Dr. Sauriol was a passionate teacher and served as the designated instructor for graduate courses in NMR spectroscopy.

In 2015, Dr. Sauriol was presented with a Special Recognition for Staff Award by Queen’s to formally recognize and celebrate her contributions.

A celebration of life will be held on Friday, Sept. 15 at 3 p.m. at the Robert J. Reid Funeral Home (309 Johnson St., Kingston).