Advertisement

If you have an ACS member number, please enter it here so we can link this account to your membership. (optional)

ACS values your privacy. By submitting your information, you are gaining access to C&EN and subscribing to our weekly newsletter. We use the information you provide to make your reading experience better, and we will never sell your data to third party members.

ENJOY UNLIMITED ACCES TO C&EN

People

Robert R. Gagne

by Susan J. Ainsworth
May 20, 2013 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 91, Issue 20

Robert R. Gagne, 64, a chemical industry entrepreneur, died on Feb. 18 in New Orleans after a brief illness.

Born in Fitchburg, Mass., Gagne earned a B.S. in chemistry from Worcester Polytechnic Institute before receiving a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Stanford University in 1974. Working in the research group of James P. Collman at Stanford, Gagne helped to develop picket-fence porphyrins.

Gagne then served as an assistant professor at California Institute of Technology for four years before founding Maxdem, a chemical research and development firm in San Dimas, Calif., in 1983. Later, he moved to Mississippi and, in 2002, founded Mississippi Polymer Technologies, which developed a new family of transparent and amorphous thermoplastic polyphenylene polymers. Gagne sold Mississippi Polymer Technologies to Solvay in 2006.

Gagne joined ACS in 1972.

Active in the Southern Mississippi business community, Gagne helped many people start and grow their own businesses.

He is survived by his mother, Eva Gagnon; brothers, Roger, Normand, Francis, and Richard; stepbrother, Guy Gagnon; and stepsisters, Christine Bellabarba and Michelle Peel.

Obituary notices of no more than 300 words may be sent to Susan J. Ainsworth at s_ainsworth@acs.org and should include an educational and professional history.

Article:

This article has been sent to the following recipient:

0 /1 FREE ARTICLES LEFT THIS MONTH Remaining
Chemistry matters. Join us to get the news you need.