Obituaries

Paul S. Cohen, professor emeritus of chemistry at the College of New Jersey, died on Oct. 4, 2004, at the age of 66.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Cohen received a B.A. in chemical education from Brooklyn College in 1960, an M.S. in chemistry with a specialty in chemical education from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in 1963, and an Ed.D. from Philadelphia's Temple University in 1975.

After graduation, Cohen spent two years on the faculty at Maryland's Frostburg State College (now Frostburg State University). In 1965, he joined Trenton State College (now the College of New Jersey) and by the 1990s had attained the rank of full professor. Cohen retired in 2003.

Cohen's research in science education ranged from the lack of qualified primary- and secondary-school science teachers in the 1970s and '80s to the need for ability-appropriate curricula for gifted children. In addition, Cohen taught courses on the history of science for nonscience majors. With physicist and science-fiction writer Milton Rothman, he authored "Basic Chemistry" (Allyn & Bacon, 1986), a textbook for college freshmen with weak high school chemistry backgrounds.

With his wife, Cohen wrote numerous travel articles for the Journal of College Science Teaching and the Journal of Chemical Education on worldwide sites of scientific interest. The couple also wrote "America's Scientific Treasures" (American Chemical Society and Oxford University Press, 1998), a book on important scientific sites in the continental U.S. The Cohens became a fixture on the ACS Speaker Service, traveling throughout the U.S. lecturing on science travel.

Cohen was an active member of the ACS Trenton Section, serving for many years as a board member, councilor to the national meetings, and most recently treasurer. Cohen was a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the American Institute of Chemists, and he served as a reviewer for the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Science Books & Films and as an editorial board member for ACS's Chemistry magazine.

Cohen is survived by his wife, Brenda; a son; a daughter; and three grandchildren. Joined ACS in 1960.

James A. Schwarz, professor of chemical engineering and materials science at Syracuse University's L. C. Smith College of Engineering & Computer Science (ECS), died on Sept. 26, 2004, following a long illness. He was 60.

A native of New Jersey, Schwarz received a bachelor's degree in 1966 and a master's degree in 1967 from Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, N.J. He began his college career studying mathematics but found his niche in chemical physics and applied chemistry. As a doctoral student at Stanford University, he participated in vitamin C research with Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling. After graduating in 1969, he spent a year as a postdoctoral researcher at Cambridge University.

Schwarz spent seven years working in the oil industry for Chevron Research and Exxon Research & Engineering before joining ECS's department of chemical engineering and materials science in 1979 as an associate professor. He was promoted to full professor in 1985.

Schwarz was internationally regarded for his pioneering research on the adsorptive storage of hydrogen on carbon and catalyst preparation. Over the years, Schwarz received nearly $5 million in research grants and contracts, including a grant from Brookhaven National Lab to research the storage of hydrogen for potential fuel cell applications. In 1990, he established the Laboratory for Advanced Storage Systems for Hydrogen to further hydrogen energy research.

Schwarz received a Fulbright Award to study in Romania in 1997. He also received the Anaren Microwave Award for Research and the prestigious Langmuir Lectureship from ACS. In 2002, Syracuse awarded Schwarz the Chancellor's Citation for Exceptional Academic Achievement.

Most recently, Schwarz worked with scientists from around the world as editor of the five-volume "Dekker Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology," a new online encyclopedia. He also served as director of a nanoscience laboratory at Syracuse and as the chair of ACS's Colloid & Surface Chemistry Division.

Schwarz is survived by his sister, Lillian. Joined ACS in 1999.

Roger E. Stansfield, a chemistry professor retired from Baldwin-Wallace College, Berea, Ohio, died of complications from cancer on Oct. 17, 2004, at the age of 78.

Stansfield was best known for using examples from English literature and history in his scientific lectures, particularly citing medieval alchemy as an integral component of the evolution of scientific experimentation and chemistry.

A native of Sanford, Maine, Stansfield served aboard the Navy destroyer U.S.S. Fred T. Berry during World War II. He received a bachelor's degree from Northwestern University in 1950 and went on to earn a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Carnegie Institute of Technology.

Stansfield taught at Duke University before joining the Baldwin-Wallace faculty in 1956. He served as chemistry department chairman for 14 years, and spent a year at Forman Christian College in Lahore, Pakistan, for the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. After his retirement in 1992, Stansfield studied and lectured at Baldwin-Wallace's Institute for Learning in Retirement.

Stansfield was a past chairman of the ACS Cleveland Section and past president of the local chapter of the American Association of University Professors. He also held leadership posts with the Presbytery of the Western Reserve.

Stansfield is survived by his wife, Audrey; two sons; and three grandchildren. Joined ACS in 1951; emeritus member.

William S. Wood, a chemical engineer retired from Sun Oil Co., died on July 24, 2004, at the age of 91.

Born in Indianapolis, Wood graduated from Purdue University with a B.S. in chemical engineering in 1937. He joined Sun Oil immediately after graduation, serving first as a research engineer and later as a safety engineer.

Wood left Sun Oil in 1972 to become an independent chemical safety and health consultant, which he continued until 1996. He also served as an adjunct assistant professor at Temple University from 1973 to 1991 and at Hahnemann University from 1994 to 1996, and as an adjunct professor at International University in Vienna, Austria, from 1990 to 1997. Wood was a member of numerous professional associations, in addition to ACS.

Wood is survived by his wife, Helen; a daughter; two granddaughters; and five great-grandchildren. Joined ACS in 1945; emeritus member.