Mary Agnes Kaiser

Mary Agnes Kaiser, 63, a senior research fellow in the Corporate Center for Analytical Sciences at DuPont, died on July 10 from metastatic cancer.

Growing up in Exeter, Pa., Kaiser received a B.S. degree in chemistry from Wilkes College (now Wilkes University) in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.; in 1970, an M.S. degree from Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia in 1972; and a Ph.D. degree in chemistry from Villanova University, in Pennsylvania, in 1976.

After working as a Graham Perdue fellow at the University of Georgia, she joined DuPont in 1977. She was the first woman at the company to become a senior research fellow.

An internationally respected analytical chemist, Kaiser was author or coauthor of more than 60 publications, including the book “Environmental Problem Solving Using Gas and Liquid Chromatography,” written with R. L. Grob. Her research focused on the analysis of fluorinated materials in the environment.

She was a visiting professor at the University of Delaware, a fellow of the American Institute of Chemists, and a member of various scientific honorary societies.

She joined ACS in 1969, and in 1987 she became the second woman to serve as chair of the society’s Division of Analytical Chemistry. She was also a founding member of the Subdivision of Chromatography.

Kaiser received Villanova University’s 1997 Founder’s Award, the 2004 ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry’s Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Analytical Chemistry, and the 2008 ACS Delaware Section Award.

She is survived by her husband, Cecil Dybowski, and daughter, Marta Dybowski.