i n
Ray S. Long (M.S. Chem and ChemE; B.S. ’46, ChemE) passed away on May 7, 2006. During graduate school, his research director was Theodore Vermeulen. He made his career at Dow Chemical and was a member of ACS for more than fifty years. He enjoyed attending both G.N. Lewis and Cupola Era events at the college. He is survived by his wife, Catherine Knittle Long (B.A. ’48, Political Science). Members of the Benjamin Ide Wheeler Society, the Longs made their home in Walnut Creek, CA. McKay “Mike” Pruitt (B.S. Chem) lost his battle to prostate cancer on August 9, 2006, at the age of 83. He had worked as a chemist for Atlantic Richfield in Carson, CA, for 35 years. He and his wife, Patricia, lived in Morro Bay, CA. They enjoyed travel, and they were able to visit both Ireland and Alaska in the past year. In addition to his wife, he is survived by three children — Garner of Portland, OR; Steven of Crescent City, CA; and Alicia Caneli of Los Osos, CA — and seven grandchildren.
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George A. Root (B.S. Chem), formerly of Sacramento, CA, passed away on August 22, 2005. We have learned recently that Allen N. Webb (Ph.D. Chem) passed away on October 9, 2005, at his home in Austin, TX. Born in Kansas, he spent his initial college years at Kansas State University. While a graduate student at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, he was selected to be a member of a research team for the Manhattan Project. He spent the next two years investigating the separation of Boron isotopes. Following WWII, he returned to his formal education, attending Berkeley and obtaining his Ph.D. with Kenneth Pitzer (Ph.D. ’37, Chem), on the study of diborane. He then worked for 31 years as a research chemist at Texaco, specializing in petroleum catalysts and fuelcell research. He retired in 1980 to Austin. Webb was a highly accomplished photogra-
pher, with a great love of classical music and world travel. He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Georgine, two sons, a daughter, four grandchildren, and one greatgrandchild. Robert S. Hampton (M.S. ChemE) passed away on April 14, 2006, at age 86. In 1941, having graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Oregon State University with a degree in mechanical engineering, he started working for DuPont in West Virginia. After Pearl Harbor, however, he was called to Southeast Asia as an Army Corps of Engineers 2nd Lieutenant. He worked on the Burma and Ledo roads for two-and-a-half years. Following the war, he joined Standard Oil in Richmond, CA. While working there, he earned his M.S. at Berkeley as a member of the Vermeulen lab. He was the CoFounder, President, and CEO of Lox Equipment Company in Livermore, CA, which designed and manufactured cryogenic storage and transport vessels — giant metal vacuum bottles. He also had franchised companies in England, Germany and Taiwan. Hampton’s products and designs were considered the best in the industry and at one point made up over 90 percent of the market. Because he was instrumental in creating the means for improved distribution of cryogenic liquids (liquified gasses), he was especially well known in the American Gas Association. In 1988, the Hamptons relocated to Portland, where he continued his lifelong hobbies of tennis, chess and duplicate bridge. He was on the board of Presbyterian churches. He is survived by Dorothy, his wife of 57 years, three daughters, and six granddaughters.
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based in part on obituary in the OREGONIAN.
Richard A. “Hal” Heckman (B.S. ChemE) of Castro Valley passed away on July 10, 2006. He formerly was vice president for Environmental Sciences at Pan American Resources and managing director of
m e m o r i a m
Herman Associates. His son, Mark Heckman, is a Berkeley alumnus (B.A. ’86, Geology). He is survived by his wife, Olive Anne Biddle-Heckman (C. Sing ’47, Education). Robert M. “Bob” Ikeda (B.S. Chem; Ph.D. ’55) passed away on October 2, 2006, at the age of 81. A United States Army veteran of WWII, he obtained a Ph.D. from UC Davis in 1955 and retired from Philip Morris USA, following a 26-year carreer. He and his wife, Yasuko Morita Ikeda (B.S. ’51,Household Arts/Home Economics) were loyal supporters of the college and the university. They participated in more than thirty Bear Treks, traveling to many parts of the world. He is survived by his wife, who lives in their home in Leesburg, VA; two sons, Richard (B.S. ’79, Chem), of Fairfax, VA,and Paul, of Seattle, WA; a daughter, Joanne Jaeger, of Ashburn, VA; and five grandchildren. based in part on obituary in the
RICHMOND
TIMES DISPATCH.
We have learned from his daughter, Marilyn Barber, that John Eugene Kunzler (Ph.D. Chem) passed away on January 11, 2006, after a brief battle with cancer. Kunzler did his graduate research with William Giauque (B.S. ’20; Ph.D. ’22, Chem). He was retired from his position as director of the Future Devices Study Center at AT&T Bell Laboratories. He had made his home in Port Murray, NJ. Alan Longacre (B.A. Chem), of Whittier, CA, passed away on December 12, 2005. His wife of nine years, Alice Swift Barker Longacre, with whom he had become reaquainted late in life, predeceased him by four months.
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Henry H. Otsuki (M.S., B.S. ’49, ChemE), a long-time resident of Livermore, CA, passed away on July 23, 2006. As a graduate student, he had been in the Vermeulen lab. He retired in 1985 from Lawrence
Fall 2006 Catalyst
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