Ross Coleman Bean; Biochemist, Inventor

Ross Coleman Bean, 76, biochemist and research scientist for Ford Aerospace and Communications Corp. Born in Thatcher, Ariz., and educated at UC Berkeley and Stanford University, Bean taught biochemistry at UC Riverside, where he performed lauded research on sugar metabolism in citrus fruits. He joined Ford in 1963 and in 1974 became a principal research scientist in its Aeronautic Division. His research areas included photosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism, membrane transport and electrophysiology, and infrared detector materials. With Ken Zanio, Bean co-invented and held the patent for manufacture of Monolithic Infrared Focal Plan Arrays. A championship swimmer, Bean was captain of UC Berkeley’s swim and polo teams, qualified for the 1944 Olympics, which were canceled because of World War II, and was named to the U.S. All-American swim teams of 1944, 1945 and 1946. Later he coached synchronized swimming teams, working with his wife, Dawn, earning 15 national titles and an international gold medal in the 1955 Pan American Games in Mexico City. In Southern California, the couple coached teams in Riverside, Tustin and Irvine. Bean, an official in the 1984, 1988 and 1996 Olympics, was elected to the U.S. Synchronized Swimming Hall of Fame in 1971 and received its Paragon Award in 1998. On Saturday in Tustin.