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Obituaries

by Susan J. Ainsworth
March 10, 2008 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 86, Issue 10

Albert A. (Bert) Carr, 77, an accomplished medicinal chemist, died on Feb. 15.

Carr received a bachelor's degree in 1953 and a master's degree in 1955 in organic chemistry, both from Xavier University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 1958. After finishing his education, Carr took a position at the former William S. Merrell Co. in Cincinnati. He remained with the company throughout his entire career, although the company's name changed due to mergers.

His research focused on neurological diseases, including schizophrenia. During his years of research, Carr developed the first nonsedating antihistamine, Seldane. Later, he helped develop its successor, Allegra.

In 1996, Carr retired from the company, which had become Hoechst Marion Roussel (now part of Sanofi-Aventis), as a distinguished research fellow in discovery chemistry. He held 78 U.S. patents and contributed to the submission of 14 Investigational New Drug Applications to the Food & Drug Administration.

In 1999, Carr received the Perkin Medal from the London-based Society of Chemical Industry.

Carr is survived by four children and 11 grandchildren. An emeritus member of ACS, he joined in 1955.

Wu-Chieh Cheng, 85, a retired Paine College professor, died on Jan. 5 in Augusta, Ga.

Born in Shanghai, Cheng received a B.S. degree in chemistry from St. John's University in Shanghai in 1944. He then traveled to the U.S. to continue his education, earning an M.S. degree in chemistry from Kansas State University, Manhattan, in 1949, and a Ph.D. in chemistry from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1954.

Early in his career, Cheng was head of chemistry at Union University in Jackson, Tenn. He later served as associate professor of chemistry at George Peabody College in Nashville. Then in 1974, he accepted a position as associate professor of physics at Paine College in Augusta. He remained at the college until his retirement in 1990.

During the summers, he had faculty positions at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, and Rockwell Hanford Operations in Richland, Wash.

After retiring Cheng worked as a primary patent examiner at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office in Washington, D.C.

Cheng was a member of the Georgia Academy of Sciences, New York Academy of Sciences, and Sigma Xi.

He is survived by his wife, Wenying, and his son, Robert. He was an emeritus member of ACS, which he joined in 1949.

Romano DeGhenghi, 77, an accomplished industrial medicinal chemist, died on Jan. 18.

Born in Italy, he earned a doctorate degree in chemistry from the University of Trieste in 1953.

DeGhenghi joined Ayerst Research Laboratories in Montreal in 1960. As a steroid chemist, he synthesized medrogestone, a progestin, and actodigin, a cardiotonic, and devised a new synthesis method for periplogenin and equilin. After rising to the role of director of research, he supervised the discovery of rapamycin, etodolac, and other products.

Later, he went to work for the Swiss biopharmaceutical firm Debiopharm, developing Pamorelin, the pamoate derivative of triptorelin that is used to treat prostate cancer.

DeGhenghi then moved to France and founded Europeptides, serving as the company's chief executive officer. There, he developed the clinical peptides teverelix, hexarelin, and meterelin. Ardana Bioscience acquired Europeptides in 2002.

DeGhenghi is survived by his wife, Ancilla; two children; and three grandchildren. He was an emeritus member of ACS, which he joined in 1958.

Albert C. Dornbush, 93, a Pearl River, N.Y., chemist, died on Nov. 30, 2007, after a long illness.

Born in Plymouth, Wis., Dornbush attended Lakeland College in Sheboygan, Wis., and earned a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

In 1940, he joined Lederle Laboratories, which is now a division of Wyeth. During his 45-year career there, he studied many compounds that eventually became pharmaceuticals, including the tetracycline drug Aureomycin, one of the first broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents. He held seven U.S. patents and was the author of numerous scientific publications. After his retirement in 1984, Dornbush served as a clinical microbiology consultant for Lederle for nine years.

Dornbush was a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, former president and a national councilor of the New York City branch of the American Society for Microbiology, and a member of the New York Academy of Sciences.

Dornbush was a master gardener and an accomplished bridge player.

He is survived by his wife of 34 years, Carol; three sons; and nine grandchildren. He was an emeritus member of ACS, which he joined in 1942.

Richard C. Elder, 68, professor emeritus of inorganic chemistry at the University of Cincinnati, died on Jan. 17.

Born in Ann Arbor, Mich., Elder received a B.S. in chemistry from St. Louis University in 1961 and a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry in 1964, from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he worked on acetylacetonate complexes of cobalt under the direction of F. Albert Cotton.

Elder then spent five years at the University of Chicago, first as an instructor from 1965 until 1967, and then as an assistant professor. In 1970, he joined the faculty of the University of Cincinnati as an associate professor of inorganic chemistry. He was promoted to full professor in 1978. He also served as director of the department's Biomedical Chemistry Research Center for many years.

A crystallographer by training, Elder initially specialized in the structure and bonding of transition-metal complexes. Beginning in the 1970s, however, he became increasingly interested in transition-metal-based pharmaceuticals and their underlying biochemistry. In particular, he focused on technetium-based imaging agents, gold-based arthritis drugs, and rhenium- and platinum-based anticancer agents. Elder retired in 2007.

He is survived by his wife, Katherine Tepperman; and two daughters. He was an ACS member who joined in 1961.

John L. Hogg, 59, professor of chemistry at Texas A&M University, died on Jan. 19 of a heart ailment.

A native of Granite, Okla., Hogg received a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from Southwestern State College (now Southwestern Oklahoma State University) in 1970 and a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas in 1974.

In 1975, he accepted a position as assistant professor of chemistry at Texas A&M. Since 1985, he had served as the university's chief adviser for undergraduate chemistry majors. In 1996, Hogg earned the title of Thamann Professor of Undergraduate Teaching Excellence at Texas A&M.

He authored almost 50 research publications in the general areas of physical, organic, and bioorganic chemistry. He is coauthor of the textbook "The World of Chemistry: Essentials." In addition, he had written a monthly newsletter, Orbitals: What's Happening in Chemistry Circles, for undergraduate chemistry majors at Texas A&M since 1985. Hogg also was the driving force behind Texas A&M's popular Chemistry Road Show, an educational outreach program he created in 1985.

Hogg received many teaching awards, including the Presidential Professor for Teaching Excellence Award in 2007, the highest honor bestowed by Texas A&M for educational excellence in the classroom. In 2004, Hogg was honored by the Texas A&M University Advisors & Counselors Organization with the Mervin & Annette Peters Advising Award, which annually recognizes the university's most outstanding faculty adviser.

Hogg is survived by his wife, Janet; and two children. He was an ACS member who joined in 1970.

Hultquist
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Martin E. Hultquist, 97, a Boulder, Colo., pharmaceutical research chemist, died on Dec. 24, 2007.

Born in Laird, Colo., Hultquist received both a B.S. and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Colorado.

Hultquist began his career as a research chemist within the Calco Division of American Cyanamid, where he focused mainly on sulfa drugs and vitamins. Later in his career, Hultquist left American Cyanamid to work with friends who were starting up Arapahoe Chemical, which later became part of Syntex. He retired from Syntex in 1975 as associate chemical research director. Syntex became part of the Roche group in 1994.

During the course of his research, Hultquist shared more than 60 patents and coauthored more than 60 publications. As a result of his work on folic acid derivatives and methotrexate, a drug used in treating leukemia and some cancers, he was one of a group of six to receive the American Association for Cancer Research's 1987 Bruce F. Cain Memorial Award for outstanding preclinical research in cancer chemotherapy.

He enjoyed traveling, mountain walks, and working with minerals and gems.

Hultquist is survived by his sons, David and Per. His wife, Lucile, died in 2003. Hultquist was an emeritus member of ACS, which he joined in 1939.

Muyskens
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Karen J. Carlson Muyskens, 46, a professor of chemistry at Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Calvin College, died on Jan. 13, after a brief illness.

Born in Minneapolis, she received a B.S. in chemistry in 1983 from Wheaton College in Illinois. In 1991, she earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she worked with Fleming Crim on the photochemistry of nitromethane.

For 18 years, she shared a tenured faculty appointment with her husband, Mark, in the department of chemistry and biochemistry at Calvin College. The job arrangement, a first for the college, allowed the couple to balance their professional lives and their family responsibilities.

Muyskens was coprincipal investigator on two National Science Foundation grants—one for use of scanning tunneling and atomic force microscopy techniques in the undergraduate curriculum, and the second for the use of an innovative traveling pulsed dye-laser system.

In addition to her husband, she is survived by three children, John, Carolyn, and Joel. Muyskens had been an ACS member since 1987.

H. Anthony (Tony) Neidig, 83, professor emeritus of chemistry at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pa., died on Jan. 19.

Born in Lemoyne, Pa., Neidig earned a B.S. in chemistry from Lebanon Valley College in 1943. He also received both an M.S. in organic chemistry in 1946 and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 1948 from the University of Delaware.

That same year, Neidig returned to Lebanon Valley College, where he taught for 37 years. He served as chairman of the chemistry department from 1951 until his retirement in 1985. During his career, Neidig authored or coauthored 15 books or monographs, 29 journal articles, and 132 modular laboratory experiments in chemistry.

In 1959, he was selected for a major role in the Chemical Bond Approach (CBA) Project, a post-Sputnik-era national science education initiative. He served as associate director of the project from 1959 until 1963. In addition, in 1963, he coauthored a CBA textbook and edited a CBA laboratory manual.

In 1972, Neidig served as Willard Grant Press's program editor for the Modular Laboratory Program in Chemistry, authoring and publishing a series of individual experiments for teachers. In 1983, Neidig and his wife, Helen, joined with others to buy the program from Willard Grant. The following year, they founded a new company, Chemical Education Resources (CER), to publish learning materials for use in chemistry laboratory instruction. Neidig served as vice president and publisher of CER until it was sold to Thomson Publishing in 2000.

Neidig received many awards, including the 1970 Catalyst Award from the Chemical Manufacturers Association (now the American Chemistry Council) and the 1978 E. Emmett Reid Award from the ACS North Jersey Section for excellence in teaching chemistry at small colleges in the mid-Atlantic region.

Neidig was a member of the advisory board of the ACS Petroleum Research Fund from 1962 until 1966, the editorial advisory board of Chemistry from 1964 until 1967, and the editorial board of the Journal of Chemical Education from 1968 until 1979. From 1967 until 1971, he was chairman of the ACS Committee on Teaching of Chemistry.

He established the Neidig Undergraduate Research Fund to provide funding for collaborative student and faculty research in chemistry at Lebanon Valley College.

In addition to his wife, Neidig is survived by four children, 10 grandchildren, and one great-granddaughter. Neidig was predeceased by his first wife, Gene. An ACS member, he joined in 1944.

Frances O. Van Duyne, 95, a Bay Head, N.J., chemist focused on nutrition research, died on Jan. 12.

Born in Newark, N.J., Van Duyne earned both a B.A. in 1934 and an M.S. in physiology in 1936 from Vassar College. In 1940, she received a Ph.D. in chemistry from Columbia University.

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After finishing her education, Van Duyne was hired to do research and teach at the College of Agriculture (now the College of Agricultural, Consumer & Environmental Sciences) at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She was promoted to assistant professor in 1945, associate professor in 1949, and full professor in 1953. Then in 1958, Van Duyne was appointed head of the Foods & Nutrition Division of the University of Illinois College of Agriculture, a position she held until her retirement in 1978. She was instrumental in the launch of the university's Ph.D. program in foods and nutrition in 1956.

Throughout her career, Van Duyne focused on how home-processing practices affect the nutritional, microbiological, and sensory quality of food. Her work regarding the vitamin content of fresh, frozen, and home-prepared fruits and vegetables is widely cited.

At the time of her death, Van Duyne was a member of the Bay Head Yacht Club, the Institute of Food Technologists, Sigma Xi, Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Upsilon Omicron, and Phi Beta Kappa.

She is survived by two brothers, Gardner and Philip. An emerita member of ACS, she joined in 1938.

Waggoner
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William H. Waggoner Jr., 83, a retired chemistry professor emeritus at the University of Georgia, died on Oct. 24, 2007, in Athens, Ga.

Waggoner was born in Portage County, Ohio. At 19 years old, he joined the 5th Air Force and served as a B-24 navigator in the Pacific from 1943 until 1945. He continued in the Air Force Reserve and retired with the rank of major.

After World War II, he entered Hiram College in Ohio and graduated with a B.S. in chemistry in 1949. He then earned a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from Western Reserve University (now part of Case Western Reserve University) in 1953.

After finishing his education, Waggoner immediately began his lifelong career at the University of Georgia. He served for many years as associate head of the chemistry department and was instrumental in planning two new chemistry buildings at the university.

Waggoner published papers on inorganic chemistry and the history of chemistry, and he wrote a book, "Chemistry at the University of Georgia," as well as an unpublished manuscript, "The Spurious Elements."

After his retirement in 1989, Waggoner won national awards for his collection of revenue stamps. He was a founding member of the Athens Philatelic Society and a frequent contributor to the United States Specialist, a philatelic journal.

He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Ruth; a son, William; two grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Michael Wales, 88, a polymer chemist, died on Dec. 30, 2007.

Born in Bridgeport, Conn., Wales received a B.S. degree in chemistry from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

During his long career in industry, Wales accepted positions at the U.S. National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Standards & Technology) and Brown Paper Co. He also worked for Shell Oil in its Emeryville, Calif., and Houston research facilities. While employed at Shell, he contributed to the development of heat-resistant plastics used in television sets. Wales later moved to Acton, Mass., as a consultant to Abcor, now a division of Koch Membrane Systems.

Focused on the field of macromolecular physical chemistry, Wales authored numerous scientific publications and held several U.S. and foreign patents.

In 1985, he and his wife, Ginette, retired to Hawaii. Wales was an avid reader with a passion for history and ancient cultures.

In addition to his wife, Wales is survived by three children, Jeffrey, Nicolette, and Claudine; and three grandchildren.

A. Judson Wells Jr., 90, a retired DuPont chemist, died on Feb. 19, after suffering a stroke.

Born in Chicago, Wells graduated with a bachelor's degree from Harvard College in 1938. In 1941, he received a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Harvard and began a 39-year career at DuPont.

Wells started as a research chemist at the company's Experimental Station in Wilmington, Del., and later became a research supervisor and head of a new product development group. From 1953 to 1955, he was the director of DuPont's Yerkes Research Laboratory in Buffalo. He returned to Wilmington in 1955 to become assistant director for research of DuPont's Film Department and, in 1959, became director of research for the Electrochemicals Department. In 1969, he assumed the role of director of the Industrial Products Division (later the Specialty Products Division) of the Fabrics & Finishes Department. He held three patents.

After Wells retired from DuPont in 1980, he became interested in studying the health effects of smoking. He wrote a series of 12 papers, which focused on second-hand smoke and the effects of smoking on breast cancer, and published them in public health journals. In 1986, he testified before the House Committee on Science & Technology on the health effects of tobacco use.

Wells served as a volunteer special assistant for the American Lung Association and a volunteer consultant with the Environmental Protection Agency. He helped prepare EPA's 1992 report on passive smoking and lung cancer. Later, he was a volunteer consultant to the Occupational Safety & Health Administration, assisting in its work to impose restrictions on smoking in the workplace.

Wells volunteered with several Delaware-based local groups focused on cancer and education. In his work against racism, he was an active member of four churches in the Wilmington area and volunteered for community groups including the United Way of Delaware.

He is survived by his wife, Nancy; six children; three stepchildren; 11 grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren. His first wife, Mary (Polly), died in 1993. An emeritus member, he joined ACS in 1940.

Obituaries are written by Susan J. Ainsworth. Obituary notices may be sent to s_ainsworth@acs.org and should include detailed educational and professional history.

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