Leslie S. Ettre

Leslie S. Ettre, 87, a PerkinElmer senior scientist, died on June 1.

Born in Szombathely, Hungary, Ettre earned a doctorate in chemical engineering from the Technical University, in Budapest.

In 1957, he was hired by Lurgi, where he launched his career in gas chromatography. A year later, he immigrated to the U.S. to accept a position as an applications engineer at PerkinElmer, in Norwalk, Conn. Over the next 10 years, he served as a product specialist and a chief applications chemist at the company before leaving to become editor of the “Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemical Analysis.” In 1972, he rejoined PerkinElmer as a senior staff scientist and was later promoted to senior scientist. He retired in 1990 but continued to do consulting work for the company.

Ettre was also a senior lecturer and adjunct professor at Veszprem University, in Budapest; the University of Houston; Johannes Kepler University, in Linz, Austria; and Yale University.

He received numerous awards and authored or coauthored more than 300 scientific papers and 60 books. He was an emeritus member of ACS, joining in 1959.

Ettre’s wife of 51 years, Kitty, predeceased him. He is survived by his second wife, F. Irene, whom he married in 2009; daughter, Julie; and two granddaughters.