Joe Gautney

Joe Gautney, 64, a retired Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) scientist, died on Nov. 29, 2014, of cardiac arrest and respiratory failure at his home in Muscle Shoals, Ala.

A native of Florence, Ala., Gautney entered the cooperative program with TVA in 1970 while earning a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at the University of North Alabama. Upon graduation in 1973, he began working at TVA’s National Fertilizer Development Center in Muscle Shoals as a research chemist. He was promoted to group leader before TVA discontinued its fertilizer program in the mid-1990s. Gautney then took on environmental work for TVA until his retirement in 2012.

Gautney joined ACS in 1979 and was active in the Wilson Dam Section, serving as its chair from 1982 until 1983. In his spare time, Gautney enjoyed camping, bass fishing, and deer hunting.

Gautney is survived by his wife, Janice, whom he married in 1969.