Rest in peace, Dr. Don Liles. Without your help, support, guidance, and patience I would not have completed my PhD dissertation (over a period of ten years)! Thank you, sir.

This photo appeared in the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph newspaper on 20 March 1960 when Carl Liles won a bike for selling the most tickets to the Cavalcade of Scouting and was accompanied by his older brother Don. From Pikes Peak Library District digital collections image 004-377. The photo also appeared in the Gazette newspaper's "A Look Back" section on 17 March 2022. I am a volunteer for Special Collections of the Pikes Peak Library District and frequently place their digital online photos on Findagrave memorial pages, but lacking that I've used this forum to share this wonderful photo with Don's loved ones. 

I was a 21 years old student when I met Dr. Liles in 1999, It was my first time away from the home and Dr. Liles's welcoming  kind nature and desire to see his students  succeed helped tremendously to settle into the new environment. Thank you for all the support, guidance and mentoring as a department chair of IMSE department and helping me/us prepare for the real world.

Thanks for everything you did for me in my UTA days!!  You will be missed dearly. RIP

When I came to US in Fall 2000, I was a naïve young man  from India with not many life lessons under my belt. Dr. Liles was our Department Chair at that time and just like many students, I did pester him for scholarships and financial aid, which he finally granted during the course of my Masters and continued throughout my PhD studies for which Don was also my Advisor. During this time. Don also introduced me to TMAC, where I did internships for several semesters and still work for till this day. I truly wouldn't be where I am and who I am today if not for Dr. Liles. I truly feel honored to know Dr. Liles and grateful for the doors he has opened for me.  Your contributions and presence will be truly missed. #RIP Dr. Liles.

When I first arrived at UTA Dr. Liles was my graduate student advisor. Later he became my PhD advisor. He took me in and helped me when I needed it the most as his graduate teaching assistant, a job I held for 4 years (Sep 2014- Dec 2018). He was a great professor and a great boss. He also was the closest to a father to me. I will be missing him. May he REST IN PEACE.



I'll remember Don as one might remember their favorite uncle. Although not blood related, I grew up with "uncle" Don as UTA and TMAC were like a second home for me. I remember thinking of him as Santa, in close kahoots with the Easter Bunny (Drew Casani). Who could miss such an obvious Santa-like twinkle in his eyes or of course that fluffy white beard? Then later, as one of the fun people for a kid to talk with at boring dinner parties. Thanks Don, for being Santa, uncle, and such a fun guy. We'll miss you dearly.

The funniest thing I remember about professional Donald Liles is when ms.liz bought another dog home and the dog was Bearand he said Weare he come from  I couldn't do nothing but laugh .

It was fall of 2001, I landed in US for pursuing my master’s in industrial engineering with The University of Texas at Arlington.

Unlike my friends, I did not have any scholarships and I knew it’s going to be a difficult game to complete the MS without any scholarship, especially coming from a modest middle-class family background.

Having understood the difficulty, I kept on requesting my dept. head Dr. Donald H. liles, for exploring any possibility of financial assistantship, as I missed the scholarship opportunity by a very narrow margin, when applied from India.
Surprised to note that, I was not the only one to pester him with financial assistantship, but there were many students.

So, Dr. Donald H. liles organized a meeting to explain to those students like me, on why dept. cannot give any financial assistantship.

The meeting was supposed to start at 9:00 am, and I was on the dot.
Unfortunately, the meeting started early (to accommodate his last-minute change in his subsequent meetings schedule) and no one updated me about that change.

Having come on the dot and missed the meeting, I was so disappointed and later met Dr. Donald H. liles and expressed my disappointment (& anger).

He was kind enough to admit that there was a communication gap and told me sorry and assured me that he will explore the financial assistantship possibility only in next semester.

To my surprise, within a week, I got a call from his office and there Dr. Donald H. liles with a letter of announcing a research assistantship for me.

I cried and received the letter, Dr. Donald H. liles hugged me with a message ‘Welcome to USA, Welcome to UTA’.
Will never forget his help in the most needed phase of my life🙏

May his soul RIP🙏🙏

Now may be a time to mourn the loss of a terrific guy. But I can’t.  All I can remember are the great times we had together. The challenges of starting TMAC, the frustrations of dealing with State and Federal governments, the feelings of pride while walking the Halls of Congress with our customers, the many beers in many bars across the State of Texas, the excitement of seeing people and an organization grow — the partnership and hours of laughter we shared will outweigh this immediate  feeling of loss. Don will always be my best friend. I treasure the moments we had together. 

I remember when I was about 10 years old I was sitting on my little sisters tricycle on the porch of our home talking and messing around with my brothers and all of a sudden the back wheels of the tricycle went off of the edge of the porch. I landed with a thud and when I tried to get up I found that my left arm had broken. I lifted up my left hand with my right hand and between my elbow and and hand my left arm drooped in the shape of a U. The good boy-scout Don jumped into action, wrapped my arm in newspaper to straighten it out and held me and my arm while Mom drove all the way to the airbase hospital. All the while telling me it was going to be ok.  I later learned that both bones in my arm had broken in three locations. Anyway, that’s how I remember it. I’m Alan, Dons younger brother. That’s not the only time he helped me with broken bones. Don wasn’t always a big talker but always took big and heroic actions for me.

Don was a gentle soul and an all around nice guy. I enjoyed his company through our TMAC work and travels. He had some great stories about his childhood. He often had a sly gaze like the cat who ate the canary as if he knew something you didn’t. His loss is felt profoundly and the memories will last a lifetime. 

Growing up at UTA, Dr. Liles would always "disappear" for winter break. This lead me and my sister to believe Dr. Liles was "Santa Claus"! Because his joyful, encouraging and caring personality, this was an easy assumption for a child to make. 
His stories and passion for the development of engineering and future engineers will always remain with me! I consider him one of the key people who inspired me to study engineering.

Dr.Liles was my professor, mentor, guide and graduate advisor, throughout grad school. He made the impossible possible, by paving a path for me to graduate as the first student in the university, with a dual masters in Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management. I completely owe my professional success to Dr.Liles and his guidance. You were a great teacher and a wonderful human being. You will be terribly missed by many such lives like mine that you have made a difference in. 

- Manaswini Kumar
Batch of 2017 (MSEM), Batch of 2018 (MSIE)

I have always know Don as Dr. Liles when I first met him when I joined TMAC over 25 years ago.  He was a great man and had the kindest heart.  He was a thinker and his brain was always looking ahead.  I had the privilege of spending many hours with him working on UTAs blue sheet budgets for our EPA grant applications.  His vision to create TMAC has allowed me as an engineer to have a career with TMAC and UTA that I have greatly enjoyed.  Because of Don's vision my life found great purpose in supporting  manufacturing across the state and helping others to become better at what they do. He will be greatly missed and I will always remember all he has taught me.

Dr. Liles was my graduate advisor at UTA, he was soft spoken with me and helped my figure out a path to graduate a semester early. I wouldn't be where I am today if not for his guidance.

My deepest condolences,

Joe Munn

Dr. Liles gave me a second chance and now I am an Industrial Engineer. Words can express how thank full I am! Dr. Liles as long as I am an IE I will never forget you! 

OBITUARY

Donald Harold Liles PhD

February 14, 1947 – January 7, 2022

Moore Funeral Home & Memorial Gardens

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