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People

Obituaries

by Rachel Petkewich
February 20, 2006 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 84, Issue 8

Lucy M. Bull, a nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopist, died on Jan. 9 from melanoma. She was 37.

Born in West Sussex, U.K., she received a B.S. in chemistry from Royal Holloway & Bedford New College of the University of London in 1989. In 1993, she earned a D.Phil. in solid-state NMR from the University of Oxford. After postdoctoral work, she headed the spectroscopy facility in the Materials Research Laboratory at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and advised graduate students and postdoctoral fellows at the Institut des Mat??riaux de Nantes, in France. Deciding to move back to California in 2000, she took a position as a staff scientist in NMR at Chevron.

Her friends and colleagues remember her endless energy and cheer inside and outside the lab. She spoke French in addition to English. Among her hobbies, she skied and played squash and golf.

She is survived by her husband, Jean-Christophe Gabriel, and two young children. Bull joined ACS in 1992 and was president of the California Catalysis Society in 1995 and 1996.

Stanley W. Drigot, 90, a chemist, died on Jan. 9 of progressive supranuclear palsy, a degenerative neural disorder.

Born in Chicago to Lithuanian immigrant parents, he graduated in 1936 from the University of Chicago with a B.S. in chemistry. While working for a chemical company in Detroit, he took night classes at Wayne State University and completed an M.S. in analytical chemistry in 1947. During his career, he also worked for A. B. Dick Co., Continental Can Co., Borg-Warner, and GTE Communications. He retired in 1985.

In the early 1970s, through his work with the ACS local section in Chicago, Drigot encouraged chemists to get involved with science-related policy. Friends remember he also went out of his way to inform the public about the positive ways chemistry affected their lives.

He is survived by his wife, Genevieve; two daughters; and a grandson. An emeritus member, he joined ACS in 1941.

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Epstein
Epstein

Joseph Epstein, 87, former research chief at the U.S. Army's Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland, died of kidney failure on Dec. 31, 2005.

The son of Polish immigrants, he was born and raised in Philadelphia. He earned a B.S. in chemistry from Temple University in 1938, a master's from the University of Pennsylvania in 1940, and a Ph.D. from the University of Delaware in 1966. He spent 40 years at Edgewood as a civilian researcher contributing to the nation's defenses against toxic agents. He also collaborated with the U.S. Public Health Service and published extensively about removing chemical wastes from water supplies, including many firsts in the field of displacement reactions in organophosphorus chemistry.

He retired in 1980 but continued to consult for various companies. He also read extensively, liked hiking and taking his family on cross-country camping trips, and went to the gym five days a week until he was 86.

Epstein is survived by his wife of 60 years, Josephine, a former chemist at Edgewood; four children; two siblings; and 10 grandchildren. An emeritus member, he joined ACS in 1943.

Owen Hannaway, 66, a chemistry historian at Johns Hopkins University, died on Jan. 21 after complications from a stroke.

He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, where at the University of Glasgow, he earned a bachelor's in chemistry in 1957 and a doctorate in 1965.

He moved to the U.S. in 1966 and spent a year at the University of Wisconsin before he joined the history of science department at Hopkins. He was named full professor in 1977 and was codirector of the university's Center for the History & Philosophy of Science. He retired in 1999.

Hannaway authored several books, including "The Chemists and the Word: The Didactic Origins of Chemistry." The Chemical Heritage Foundation organized a 1999 symposium in his honor, and he also received awards from the History of Science Society and ACS.

A former student says he had a "brillance" that "shone through in the particular gleam of his eye when making a point." He enjoyed food and wine, collected Oriental rugs, and studied birds.

He is survived by his wife of 37 years, Caroline, a medical historian, and by two sisters.

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Micetich
Micetich

Ronald G. Micetich, 74, a pharmaceutical researcher, died on Nov. 23, 2005.

Born in India, he earned his Ph.D. in 1962 from the University of Saskatchewan. Over the next 20 years, he worked extensively as a researcher in the pharmaceutical industry in Canada in the fields of antibiotics and anti-inflammation drug discovery. In 1987, he established SynPhar Laboratories Inc., a joint-venture drug discovery company with Taiho Pharmaceutical of Japan and a first of its kind in Canada. In 1999, Micetich cofounded NAEJA Pharmaceutical Inc., a successful preclinical drug discovery and development contract research organization that employs more than 120 full-time staff members. His 40-year career resulted in more than 200 published articles and more than 100 patents.

He is survived by his wife, Celine (Sheila); four children; and eight grandchildren. He joined ACS in 1983.

Robert L. Moore, 85, an industrial chemist, died on Jan. 21 after complications from pneumonia.

He earned bachelor's degrees in both chemistry and mathematics in 1942 from the North Texas State Teachers College in Denton. He earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry from the University of Texas, Austin. Upon completing his Ph.D. in 1947, he went to Richland, Wash., to work on the Hanford Atomic Project with General Electric.

There, he served as one of the first instructors at the G.E. School of Nuclear Knowledge (now Washington State University, Tri-Cities). In 1956, he became a research manager. His team provided support to Hanford's chemical plants and developed processes for the recovery of by-product isotopes from waste, conversion of high-level radioactive waste to stable glass, and analytical chemistry for the breeder reactor program.

Moore had many hobbies. He enjoyed gliding and earned top honors in the sport and a spot in its Hall of Fame. He was a member of various allied clubs as well as past director and vice president of the Soaring Society of America. He also hiked, paddled, skied, biked, took photos, and wrote an autobiography highlighting Hanford.

Because he was an early worker in the area of plutonium research, he donated his body to the National Transuranium Registry for scientific study. He is survived by a brother and several nieces and nephews. An emeritus member, he joined ACS in 1944.

Fredric Rieders, 83, died on Nov. 26, 2005. He was Philadelphia's first chief toxicologist; a professor of pharmacology at Thomas Jefferson University, in Philadelphia; and the founder of National Medical Services, one of the nation's largest and most respected forensic and clinical toxicology laboratories.

Born in Vienna, Austria, he immigrated alone to the U.S. at age 16, escaping the Holocaust that was to envelop Central Europe. He became a U.S. citizen in 1944 and served as a surgical technician in the 20th Armored Division of the U.S. Army in France and Germany until after World War II. He earned a master's degree from New York University in 1949. In 1952, he completed a Ph.D. in pharmacology at Thomas Jefferson University.

He continued his dedication to science, teaching, and service in public health and justice in Philadelphia. During a career that spanned more than five decades, he testified in court as an expert in high-profile murder trials and established the city's Poison Information Center.

His numerous awards include an honorary doctorate from Arcadia University. He also established and led a charitable foundation for education and research called the Fredric Rieders Family Renaissance Foundation.

Rieders was preceded in death by a son and is survived by his wife, Betty-Jean; three children; and eight grandchildren. An emeritus member, he joined ACS in 1948.

Ernest Tereck, 83, a chemical engineer, died on March 13, 2005.

He was born in Cleveland to Romanian immigrant parents. In 1944, he received a B.S. in chemical engineering from Fenn College (now Cleveland State University). He received an M.S. in chemical engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

He spent his career with B.F. Goodrich in Ohio. First, he worked as a production supervisor in the tire and rubber division in Akron. He moved to a plant in Avon Lake and then became an R&D manager for elastomers at the Goodrich-Gulf Development Center in Independence. He retired from the corporate R&D facility in Brecksville.

In retirement, he served as his church's council president and as project manager for many capital improvement projects.

He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Virginia; his son, who is also a chemical engineer; and three grandchildren. He joined ACS in 1983.

Frank Tiller, 88, a chemistry engineering professor emeritus and a former dean, died on Jan. 3.

He received a B.S. from the University of Louisville, in Kentucky, held master's and Ph.D. degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Cincinnati, and is widely recognized as the father of modern filtration theory. His research advanced fluid/particle systems and the separation of particles in fields ranging from the chemical industry, yeast and beer, petroleum, and the environment. From 1955 to 1963, he was the first dean of Cullen College of Engineering at the University of Houston.

Tiller had a wide range of interests beyond chemistry, including politics, languages, and diverse cultures. He was instrumental in establishing engineering programs at several colleges in Latin America and was known for being a father figure to many of his graduate students, especially those from overseas. He is survived by his two children, a son and a daughter.

Marshal Whitehurst, 85, a chemical engineer, died on Jan. 19 from melanoma.

An Indiana native, he earned a B.S. in chemical engineering from Indiana Technical College in Fort Wayne in 1943. He worked in the electroplating department at RCA in Indianapolis for 38 years. His work improved the quality of the plating process to produce audio records and video discs. Among his patents, he helped develop the amorphous copper substrate used in producing RCA's CED Video Disc masters in the mid-1970s, and he was the primary developer of a copper-plating process.

After retiring in 1981, Whitehurst volunteered. He tutored local students struggling in science and math and delivered Meals On Wheels for 20 years. He built and maintained two storefronts and kept a food pantry stocked for the Sharing Place, an outreach of Lutheran Child & Family Services. He taught plating courses at Ivy Tech Community College and, after learning stained glass at 79, patiently taught that art to anyone who was interested in learning.

He is survived by his wife, Dorothy; five children; 11 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. An emeritus member, he joined ACS in 1943.

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