Obituaries

Edward R. Atkinson, a research chemist retired from Arthur D. Little, died on June 25, 2004, at the age of 92.

Atkinson was born in Boston and received a B.S. in 1933 and a Ph.D. in 1936, both in chemistry, from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While at MIT, he joined the Chemical Warfare Service (now the Chemical Corps of the U.S. Army) and eventually reached the rank of major before resigning his commission to teach full time.

After graduation, Atkinson spent two years teaching organic chemistry at Trinity College, Hartford, Conn. In 1938, he was recruited to join the faculty at the University of New Hampshire. In addition to his professorship, Atkinson served as an industry and government consultant, working on melamine chemistry for Monsanto and on the molecular structure of explosives for the Army's Ordnance Department.

A lifelong love for classical music prompted Atkinson to leave academia in 1951 and move to Boston, where he could be closer to concert venues and social events. He initially took a position with Dewey & Almy Chemical Co., then joined Arthur D. Little in 1957. There he worked on a diverse set of projects, including optical isomer resolution, antimalarial drugs, and incapacitating agents, until his retirement in 1977.

Atkinson was an avid chemical historian starting in his college days and was an active member of the Ouroboros Club, an academic chemistry society founded in 1910. He served as the club's unofficial historian and presented a paper on its history at the 2002 ACS national meeting in Boston. For ACS, he was a longtime member of the Northeastern Section and served a term as section chair in 1956. He was honored with the section's 1981 Henry A. Hill Award for distinguished service to the section and the chemistry profession.

Atkinson was preceded in death by his first wife, Helen, and his second wife, Lorraine. He is survived by two daughters. An emeritus member, Atkinson joined ACS in 1933.

Arthur Cohen, a metallurgist retired from the Copper Development Association Inc. (CDA), died on Nov. 10, 2004, at the age of 73.

Cohen earned a B.S. in chemistry from Sir George Williams University (now Concordia University), Montreal, followed by a B.Eng. in metallurgical engineering from McGill University, Montreal, and an M.S. in metallurgy from Syracuse University.

Before joining CDA in 1967, Cohen was supervisor of metallurgy for Carrier Corp.; a metallurgical process engineer for Canadian Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Co.; and a mill metallurgist for Dominion Engineering Works. He then served for 30 years as manager of standards and safety engineering at CDA, where he was instrumental in the development of a standard designation system for wrought and cast copper alloys.

In addition to his work at CDA, Cohen was 1996 chairman of the American Society for Testing & Materials International Board of Directors following eight years as an officer and member of the board. He also devoted 30 years of service to ASTM's Committee B-5 on copper and copper alloys and held positions as subsecretary, secretary, and first vice chairman.

Cohen's many awards include the Leo B. Moore Medal, the highest award of the Standards Engineering Society, and ASTM's Award of Merit. He was a regular contributor to ASTM Standardization News and many other trade publications. In his personal life, he was an avid photographer, a classical opera aficionado, and a tireless teacher and leader at his synagogue.

Wilbur W. DeAtley, a chemist retired from the U.S. Navy's Indian Head Warfare Center, died of leukemia on Oct. 25, 2004, at the age of 89.

Born in Billings, Mont., DeAtley received a bachelor's degree from the University of Montana and a master's degree from the University of Chicago in 1937. He worked for Kodak and DuPont in Niagara Falls, N.Y., before moving to the Indian Head, Md., facility in 1959. He retired in 1983 but continued to live in the Washington, D.C., region.

DeAtley was preceded in death by his wife, Marjorie. He is survived by two sons and four grandchildren. An emeritus member, he joined ACS in 1943.

Jasper H. Kane, a former vice president and director of biochemical research and development at Pfizer, died on Nov. 16, 2004, at the age of 101.

Born in New York City, Kane began working as an assistant at the Charles Pfizer & Co. (now Pfizer Inc.) chemical manufacturing plant as a teenager. He studied at night at Polytechnic University in Brooklyn and graduated in 1928.

Kane continued working for Pfizer after receiving his degree, and in 1942 suggested using a fermentation process to mass-manufacture penicillin, streptomycin, and other antibiotics. The idea helped steer Pfizer, at the time a chemical supplier for the food industry, toward pharmaceutical production. The newly manufactured drugs were used in part to treat hundreds of infected soldiers during World War II.

Kane retired from Pfizer in 1953. An emeritus member, he joined ACS in 1935.

Miguel A. Ondetti, cocreator of the first new class of drugs for hypertension and congestive heart failure, known as ACE inhibitors, died on Sept. 23, 2004. He was 74.

Ondetti graduated from the University of Buenos Aires School of Sciences in 1957 with a Ph.D. in organic chemistry and immediately took a position with Squibb Corp. (now Bristol-Myers Squibb) as a senior research chemist.

During his 34-year career at the firm, Ondetti served as a research supervisor and section head in organic chemistry, director of biological chemistry, associate director in chemistry and microbiology, and vice president for cardiovascular diseases. He retired as senior vice president of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases in 1991.

Together with Bristol-Myers Squibb colleague David Cushman, Ondetti discovered a component of the venom of the Brazilian pit viper that inhibits angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) and helps regulate blood pressure. Synthetic compounds that mimic ACE inhibitors found in the venom were effective only when given by injection, so the researchers exploited a three-dimensional protein structure to design an orally active drug. Their work ushered in a new technology called structure-based drug design, which is now used throughout the pharmaceutical industry.

In 1998, Bristol-Myers Squibb was awarded the National Medal of Technology, in large part because of Ondetti and Cushman's accomplishments with ACE inhibitors. Ondetti and Cushman were honored with the 1999 Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research.

Ondetti is survived by his wife, Josephine; a daughter; a son; and a brother. He joined ACS in 1959.