The Kansas University community recently lost faculty members in engineering, paleobotany and piano who had taught at the university for decades. The three teachers died in April and May.

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Nancy Kinnersley, associate professor in the department of electrical engineering and computer science, died May 18 in Kansas City, Kan., at age 71, according to her Journal-World obituary. Services had not been planned.

Kinnersley, who joined the KU faculty in 1989, researched design and analysis of algorithms, graph theory and graph algorithms, and discrete mathematics, according to KU. She was KU Faculty Senate President for the 2013-14 school year.

“Nancy Kinnersley was an outstanding educator, and her service to the electrical engineering and computer science department was exemplary,” Michael Branicky, dean of the School of Engineering, said in a news release from KU. “Through her close association with Engineering Diversity and Women’s Programs as co-adviser to the Society of Women Engineers, she helped provide guidance and support to countless female engineering students.”

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Tom Taylor died April 28 at home in Lawrence, at age 78, according to his obituary. A memorial celebration is planned for 3 p.m. June 11 at the KU Natural History Museum.

Taylor, who joined the KU faculty in 1995, was the Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology, and a curator of paleobotany for the Biodiversity Institute and the KU Natural History Museum, according to KU. He is survived by his wife, Edith Taylor, KU professor emerita of ecology and evolutionary biology.

Biodiversity Institute director Leonard Krishtalka said, in a news release from KU, that Tom Taylor, along with his wife, brought “world-class” paleobotany to KU, establishing the university as the global center for research and collections on the evolution of plants and fungi in Antarctica, where he made numerous expeditions. “To quote Isaac Newton, all current and future students of paleobotany and the evolution of plants on Earth will stand on the shoulders of Tom Taylor.”

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Alice Downs died April 30 at Lawrence Memorial Hospital at age 79, according to her obituary. Services were held in May. She is survived by her husband, Cal Downs, KU professor emeritus of communication studies.

Downs was a KU faculty member for 29 years, teaching piano, according to the obituary. She started playing at age 3, and over the next 70 years performed all over the United States and numerous foreign countries, giving her final concert at KU in 2003. She was passionate about teaching, active in multiple community music organizations and also deeply spiritual.

“Her faith and grace were the resources she drew on to enjoy 10 years of life following paralysis from a stroke which required 24-hour care,” her obituary said. “She lived her life with grace and charm and, despite the stroke, she lived the abundant life going to hear the Kansas City Symphony and celebrating good times with family and friends.”

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• I’m the Journal-World’s KU and higher ed reporter. See all the newspaper’s KU coverage at KUToday.com. Reach me by email at sshepherd@ljworld.com, by phone at 832-7187, on Twitter @saramarieshep or via Facebook at Facebook.com/SaraShepherdNews.