Dr. Arne A. Nilsson

Dr. Arne A. Nilsson of Raleigh, NC formerly of Sweden passed away on Tuesday, December 8, 2020, in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Arne received his Ph.D. from Lund Institute of Technology in Sweden in 1976. After spending 2 years as the Assistant Professor and Acting Professor and Department Head at Lund, he joined NC State as an Assistant Professor in 1978. He rose through the ranks and became a professor in 1987. In 1986 he was a professor at ITA, Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil. Furthermore, he was a professor of Telecommunications Systems at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden in 1986 and 1987, and at Blekinge Technical University, Sweden from 1999 to 2004. He also taught in Copenhagen, Denmark, and in Budapest, Hungary.

Arne was a leader in the NC State Center for Communications and Signal Processing, one of the school's large research centers. He served as Associate Director from 1987 to 1988, Director from 1988 to 1990, and Technical Director from 1990 to 1996. He also was a leader in the establishment of the Computer Networking MS program and served as the program director from 2001 to 2009.

He was a principal investigator for the Swedish Telecommunication Administration in the effort to build a Nordic packet-switched network. He was on the committee responsible for the design and architecture of the MCNC data and video network in North Carolina. He was one of the Principal Investigators of the VISTAnet, one of the five gigabit testbeds coordinated by the Corporation for National Research Initiatives in cooperation with DARPA and NSF in the early 1990s. He retired in 2013.

Arne enjoyed teaching, and one of his greatest joys was the contacts he had with his students. During weekends, that had to compete with his love for golf.

Travelling was another of his interests, and he especially enjoyed Budapest. He was always interested in learning new things and seeing new places.

Arne made significant and lasting contributions to the ECE Department, NC State, North Carolina, Sweden, and the Computer Networking community. We remember these contributions with gratitude.

Arne survived by his wife, Ingrid, whom he met in Lund in 1965; sister, Lena Nilsson, her husband AAke (Åke) Walberg of Nyland, Sweden and their three children, Linnea, Gustav and Elma all of Kramfors, Sweden; great-niece Selma; aunt & uncle, Ulla and Torsten Holm and their daughter, Kerstin all of Lomma, Sweden.

A memorial service will be held at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, December 15, at Grace Lutheran Church, 5010 Six Forks Road, Raleigh, NC 27609. 

Arrangements by Clancy Strickland Wheeler Funeral Home, 1051 Durham Road, Wake Forest, NC. (919)556-7400

www.cswfuneralhome.com