On May 22, 1948, John Greene, chair of DU’s chemical engineering department, died in a boating accident on the South Platte River. A decade later, the University of Denver Research Institute’s new engineering building was dedicated in his memory. During World War II, Greene served with the Chemical Warfare Service, for which he received a Presidential Service Citation. He came to the University of Denver in 1946. John Greene Hall was originally only 2 stories tall. Today, John Greene Hall boasts 3 stories and houses the math and computer science programs. The demolition of John Greene Hall is planned for early 2014 to make way for the new STEM Initiative building (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). The new 110,000-square-foot building will be built to house the Daniel Felix Ritchie School of Engineering and Computer Science, as well as the new Knoebel Center for the Study of Aging.