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Obituaries

by Susan J. Ainsworth
December 15, 2008 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 86, Issue 50

Gunsalus
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Irwin C. (Gunny) Gunsalus, 96, an internationally renowned biochemist and enzymologist, died on Oct. 25 from congestive heart failure at his home in Andalusia, Ala.

Through his cross-disciplinary research in organic chemistry, physics, and genetics, Gunsalus discovered several vitamins and contributed to the understanding of bacterial and human metabolism.

Born in Sully County, S.D., Gunsalus earned a bachelor’s degree in 1935, a master’s degree in 1937, and a doctoral degree in 1940, all in bacteriology from Cornell University. He then served as a professor of bacteriology at Cornell until 1947, when he accepted a professorship at Indiana University.

In 1950, Gunsalus became a professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he remained until 1982, serving as head of its biochemistry department from 1955 until 1966. In the 1960s, he coauthored “The Bacteria,” a five-volume text.

After retirement from the University of Illinois, Gunsalus became an assistant secretary general of the United Nations.

He later accepted the role of senior scientist for the Gulf Ecology Division of the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Health & Environmental Effects Research Laboratory.

An advocate for human rights, Gunsalus was one of four scientists who hand-delivered to President Lyndon B. Johnson a petition to halt the use of chemical and biological weapons in Vietnam in 1967.

He received numerous awards and was a member of many scientific organizations, including the National Academy of Sciences, chairing its biochemistry section from 1978 to 1981. He was an emeritus member of ACS, joining in 1943.

Gunsalus is survived by six children and seven grandchildren. His first wife, Merle, survives him. His second wife, Carolyn, died in 1970; his third wife, Dorothy, died in 1981; and a son died in 2006.

Patrick M. Henry, 80, professor emeritus of chemistry at Loyola University, died on Oct. 18 in a hospice facility near his Wilmette, Ill., home.

Born in Joliet, Ill., Henry was raised in Chicago. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1951 and a master’s degree in 1953, both from DePaul University, and a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from Northwestern University in 1956, under the direction of Ralph Pearson and in collaboration with Fred Basolo.

Henry began his career in industry as a member of the research center technical staff of Hercules (now Ashland) in Wilmington, Del. In 1971, he moved to academia, serving as an associate professor and then full professor of the chemistry department at the University of Guelph, in Ontario. In 1981, Henry returned to Chicago, serving as chairman of the department of chemistry at Loyola University until 1986. In 2004, he became professor emeritus at Loyola.

Henry spent most of his career exploring the reactions of olefins by transition-metal ions. The emphasis was on Pd(II)-catalyzed systems including the industrially important Wacker process. In addition to numerous papers, Henry wrote a book entitled “Palladium Catalyzed Oxidation of Hydrocarbons,” which was published in 1980. He joined ACS in 1954.

Henry is survived by his three children, William, Thomas, and Eileen Mahon; and four grandchildren. Henry’s wife, Eileen, died in 2006.

Ben W. Kiff, 91, a retired Union Carbide chemist, died in Star, Idaho, on Sept. 23.

Born in Hurricane, W.Va., Kiff earned a B.S. degree in 1939 and a master’s degree in organic chemistry in 1941, both from Marshall College (now Marshall University), in Huntington, W.Va.

Kiff spent nearly 40 years as an organic chemist at Union Carbide’s technical center in South Charleston, W.Va. He was awarded 45 U.S. patents, as well as many international patents. He was an emeritus member of ACS, joining in 1942.

After living for 65 years in West Virginia and 20 years in Florida, he moved to Idaho in 2003 to be near his son, Lloyd, who survives him. His wife of 64 years, Maxine, died in 2002.

Milgrom
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Jack Milgrom, 80, a plastics-recycling pioneer, died on March 3 at home in Teaneck, N.J. He had been suffering from progressive supranuclear palsy.

Born in Chicago, Milgrom served in the Army Air Corps during World War II. He then entered the University of Chicago on the G.I. Bill, earning an A.B. in 1950, an M.S. in 1951, and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 1959.

He then worked as a research chemist at Standard Oil (now ExxonMobil) studying free-radical and organometallic catalysis. Later, he accepted a position as a group leader at General Tire & Rubber, focusing on the development of catalysts for polymerization of epoxides, dienes, and vinyl monomers. He then moved to Foster Grant, where he served as manager of polymerization and process research.

In 1968, Milgrom worked for Arthur D. Little as a consultant for recycling of solid waste. He also served as a consultant at SRI International before founding the recycling consulting firm Walden Research.

He published numerous papers on packaging and recycling and held patents in the polymer field. He was the editor of Reuse/Recycle and was a senior author of the textbook “Packaging in Perspective.” He was an adviser to the National Academy of Sciences and former chairman of the ASTM Committee on Materials for Construction from Recovered Materials. Milgrom was an emeritus member of ACS, joining in 1952.

He is survived by his wife, Naomi; and three children, Aaron, Rosalind Essner, and Miriam. His first wife of 50 years, Trudy, preceded him in death.

Princen
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Lambertus H. (Bert) Princen, 78, a retired Agriculture Department chemist, died of lung cancer on Oct. 26 at his home in Peoria, Ill.

Born in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, Princen earned a doctorate in chemistry in 1959 from Utrecht University, in the Netherlands. He did postdoctoral research at the University of Southern California from 1955 until 1958. He then served in the Dutch Army for one year.

In 1960, Princen went to Peoria for what was to be a two-year stint at USDA’s National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research. Instead, he remained at the center for his entire career, retiring as its director in 1990.

Princen then became editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Oil Chemists’ Society (AOCS) for eight years. He also taught chemistry courses at Bradley University in Peoria.

Throughout his career, Princen authored 78 scientific papers and held three patents. He received awards including two USDA Superior Service Awards and an Award of Merit from AOCS. Princen was an emeritus member of ACS, joining in 1962.

He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Greet; and his son, Norman.

Tuesday
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Charles S. (Chuck) Tuesday, 80, a retired General Motors executive, died on June 18 in Eugene, Ore.

Born in Trenton, N.J., Tuesday served in the Army from 1946 to 1948. He then earned an undergraduate degree from Hamilton College, in Clinton, N.Y., in 1951, followed by a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Princeton University in 1955.

Tuesday then accepted a position at the General Motors Research Laboratories, in Warren, Mich., where he would remain for his entire career. An expert on the study of photochemical smog, he was heavily involved in General Motors’ work to develop and implement the catalytic converter and unleaded gasoline in an effort to reduce vehicle emissions. Tuesday was head of the Fuels & Lubricants, Environmental Science, and Physical Chemistry departments during his 37-year career at General Motors. He was the company’s executive director of materials science when he retired in 1992.

Tuesday was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, the Society of Automotive Engineers, the Industrial Research Institute, and the Coordinating Research Council. He was also a fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Tuesday was an emeritus member of ACS, joining in 1951. He authored papers for several publications, including the Journal of the American Chemical Society, and served on the editorial boards of several ACS publications. In 1995, Tuesday received the Thomas Midgley Award from the Detroit Section of ACS.

Tuesday is survived by his wife of 55 years, Jean; three children, David, Lora Heathfield, and Verna; and five grandchildren.

A. Wayne Venolia, 83, a retired industrial research chemist, died at his home in Gualala, Calif., on May 19.

Born in Spadra, Calif., Venolia served in the paratroops in the European Theater during World War II. He then earned a B.A. in chemistry from Pomona College in 1949 and an M.S. in chemistry from Stanford University in 1951.

Venolia had a long career as a research chemist, working for National Lead, in Sayreville, N.J.; National Research & Chemical, in Hawthorne, Calif.; Marquardt, in Van Nuys, Calif.; and USDA’s Fruit & Vegetable Lab, in Pasadena, Calif. He retired in 1986. He was an emeritus member of ACS, joining in 1950.

He is survived by his wife, Jan; three children, Carol, Lee, and Malcolm; and four grandchildren.

Martin J. Weiss, 85, a retired Lederle Laboratories research chemist, died on May 16 after a brief illness.

Weiss received a B.S. degree from New York University in 1945 and a Ph.D. degree in organic chemistry from Duke University in 1949.

Weiss spent one year at Columbia University’s Hickrill Chemical Research Foundation with William von Eggers Doering before joining American Cyanamid in Bound Brook, N.J., in 1950.

In 1955, he transferred to Pearl River, N.Y., to work for American Cyanamid’s Lederle Laboratories division, which Wyeth Pharmaceuticals acquired in 1994. He remained at Lederle for the next 40 years until he retired in 1995. He rose from group leader to associate director of discovery research.

Weiss’s research, publications, and patents covered numerous fields, including antimalarials, antibacterials, febrifugine, and aminothiols. Later in his career, he contributed greatly to steroid and prostaglandin chemistry, helping several compounds reach the clinical stage of drug development.

He was an emeritus member of ACS, joining in 1945.

Weiss is survived by his three sons, Eric, Richard, and Lawrence; and by his companion, Marilyn.

Susan J. Ainsworth writes Obituaries. Obituary notices may be sent to s_ainsworth@acs.org and should include a detailed educational and professional history.

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