Timothy Truex

Timothy Truex, 65, an expert on motor vehicle exhaust emissions control, died of cancer in Oxnard, Calif., on Aug. 4.

Truex earned a B.A. in chemistry at Hanover College in 1967 and a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972.

He then joined Ford Motor Co., beginning a career in research on motor vehicle exhaust emissions characterization and control. He began focusing on exhaust catalyst development in 1981, when he became technology director of Johnson Matthey’s catalytic systems division.

In 1995, Truex joined the Center for Environmental Research & Technology of the College of Engineering at the University of California, Riverside. There he managed the vehicle dynamometer test program for characterizing vehicle emissions.

Three years later, Truex joined Catalytic Solutions as its vice president for new business development. After retiring from the company, he continued his research on catalysts as a consultant. Working with Redwood City, Calif.-based Nanostellar, he developed new multilayer catalyst systems.

During his professional career, Truex was named as a coinventor in a number of patents and was credited with more than 40 technical papers and major reports on vehicle emissions control. He was a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers and of ACS, which he joined in 1969.

Truex’ love of the environment led him to explore remote areas of the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Africa. He and his wife, Sandy, became avid wildlife photographers, enthusiastic trout fishermen, and small-boat sailors.

Truex is survived by his wife; two children from his first marriage, Andrew and Amy; and two grandchildren.