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“Marilyn loved Northeastern and she gave her heart and soul to this place,” says Andrew Gouldstone, associate chair for undergraduate affairs in mechanical and industrial engineering.
The Northeastern University community is mourning the loss of a colleague, scholar, mentor and friend who touched so many so deeply.
Marilyn Lillith Minus, a beloved professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, died on Aug. 6 of cancer. She was 46.
Born in Freeport, Bahamas, Minus arrived at Northeastern as an assistant professor in 2010. Within a decade she had risen to professor and chair of the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering while heading a university lab whose acronym (MINUS) shared her name.
“Marilyn was an amazing and accomplished teacher, scholar and mentor to many in the Northeastern community,” said Joseph E. Aoun, president of Northeastern. “She was a dedicated university citizen and her outstanding character and empathy left a deep impression on all those fortunate enough to know her. Our community misses her terribly and we will cherish her legacy.”
Minus was known as a devoted champion of Northeastern and worked on the university’s behalf in a variety of ways, resulting in her receiving a Dean’s Award for Meritorious Service in January.
“She was a very good leader with a lot of compassion and empathy who was able to make difficult decisions,” said Gregory Abowd, dean of Northeastern’s College of Engineering.
Northeastern hired Minus as part of a National Science Foundation grant aimed at developing women faculty in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).
She was introduced to Northeastern at a workshop for prospective faculty.
“As soon as people saw what she was working on, they went to recruit her,” said Jacqueline Isaacs, professor and vice provost for faculty affairs in mechanical and industrial engineering at Northeastern.
Minus’ radiant smile is burned into the memories of Isaacs and Debra Franko, Northeastern’s senior vice provost for academic affairs.
“I found her to be a leader and one of the most caring of our department chairs,” Franko said. “She cared about her faculty, about her students, about her staff, and she spent so much time and energy and effort to support them, to make sure they were OK, to work with them if they weren’t OK. She was quite amazing in that way.”
Andrew Gouldstone, associate chair for undergraduate affairs in mechanical and industrial engineering at Northeastern, said Minus was known for standing up for colleagues, students and friends.
“She just embodied love,” Gouldstone said. “It’s a simple little word but for her it was about love of life, love of people and their potential, love of animals, love of cooking, love of the Earth, love of the universe, love of her mom and family, love of God — just love and gratitude.
“When you’re that focused and you have that much vision and love, it sets a template for what people can do.”
Ken Benson, who studied under Minus as a graduate student at Northeastern, called Minus a constant source of inspiration and enlightenment.
“With her understanding, command and love of the subject matter I always knew if I went to her with a question she would have the answer — turning small meetings into impromptu lessons,” Benson said.
Minus always prioritized her students, Benson said.
“She was someone who would listen to any problem, whether it be academic, professional or anything in between — she was always there,” he said. “She will always be someone who I will aspire to be more alike, to become a better engineer, leader, and person.”
Minus’ lab is an interdisciplinary research center focused on the study of polymer-based nano-carbon composites. True to her indomitable cleverness, she named it the Macromolecular Innovation in Nano-materials Utilizing Systems Laboratory to form the acronym MINUS.
She designed the lab’s maker spaces, floor tiles and other features on her iPad. Minus even drew up the plans for her home and took great pride in its meticulous maintenance.
“She loved cleaning products, lawn mowers, planting and weeding her garden,” Gouldstone said. “She described her home as a house of healing.”
Minus had been diagnosed with cancer before arriving at Northeastern.
“She would beat it and then it would recur,” Isaacs said. “And then she’d beat it, and then it would recur.”
Minus’ insistence on maintaining privacy while fighting cancer was based on her refusal to let the disease define her, leaving loved ones and colleagues to recall her unrelenting “optimism and joy in the face of hurdles,” Isaacs said.
“Marilyn was very clear on what she could not control in her life, and she was more resigned and accepted to that than anybody I’ve ever seen,” Gouldstone said.
“That’s not to say that she didn’t have big dreams; but stuff that was clearly out of her hands, that many of us choose to waste time on lamenting how maybe life doesn’t treat us fairly — that wasn’t Marilyn,” he said. “Her approach was to say there’s no reason to worry about that. And that truly allowed her to focus on what was in front of her.”
There were some people who had no idea that Minus had cancer, Abowd said.
“For them it came as a complete shock, but that very quickly turned into an appreciation for the wonderful human being that she was,” he said.
Gouldstone said Minus was not fatalistic.
“She carried a card that read, ‘Love is patient, love is kind.’ She believed, ‘There is a plan for me.’ She didn’t have time to waste on her worries at all,” Gouldstone said. “And there was never a moment of why has life treated me this way? Never, never, ever, ever.”
He said Minus loved the notion of paying it forward.
“Whenever she earned something, she would give it away,” Gouldstone said. “Whenever she got an opportunity or something good came her way, she would want to share it with as many people as possible, in the hopes that they might share it with others as well too.”
The outpouring of responses from Northeastern faculty and staff dwelled upon her “unwavering integrity and strength, near-limitless compassion, care and loyalty for anyone she led, her devotion to her family and friends, her personal and powerful faith in God, and a hope and demand that each member of our community be recognized, respected and valued, not only for their professional activities, but for their existence as a ‘whole person,’” according to an announcement of Minus’ death by Yingzi Lin, professor and interim chair of the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering.
“Our loss of Marilyn Minus is felt across the entirety of the department, college and university, and is huge,” Lin wrote. “Let this be recognized as a testament to the love and kinship that many of us shared with her.”
Minus relinquished her chair at Northeastern in April when she became senior vice president and chief technology officer for Connecticut-based Hexcel, the leading U.S. manufacturer of carbon fiber, which is crucial to aerospace and industrial applications. With that move, Minus emerged as a pioneering CTO in the aerospace industry among women and women of color.
Even as she made plans to move on, Minus continued to be invested in her Northeastern Ph.D. students, Franko said.
“Marilyn loved Northeastern and she gave her heart and soul to this place,” Gouldstone said. “She knew going to Hexcel was the right decision. But still the decision wasn’t easy.”
Minus had staved off cancer with chemotherapy sessions as recently as January 2024.
“I’m just lucky to have known her all this time,” Gouldstone said. “There are lots and lots of people who are truly sad right now, but I know she would want them not to worry. She would want them to remember the joy they had, remember their inner strength, and pass it on to other people.”