Bill J. ‘BJ’ Mitchell of Lakewood, Colo., died August 14, 2011. Born in 1935, the professor emeritus taught from 1966 to 1996 in the Petroleum Engineering Department, where both students and staff admired him for his inspired teaching, wit and character. Similarly respected within the energy industry, he authored four books, six manuals and 62 papers on oil well drilling. In 2011, the Dr. Billy J. Mitchell American Driller Scholarship Fund was established at the Colorado School of Mines Foundation in his honor. BJ was predeceased by his wife, Caroline, and is survived by his two daughters.
