PEOPLE
Obituaries Dwaine 0. Cowan, 70, professor emeritus of chemistry at Johns Hopkins University, died on May 5. Born in Fresno, Calif, Cowan received a B.S. in chemistry in 1958 from Fresno State University (now California State University, Fresno), and a Ph.D. in chemistry from Stanford University in 1962. He spent a postdoctoral year at California Institute ofTechnology. Then he headed to the East Coast to join theJohns Hopkins chemistry faculty Cowan became an internationally recognized authority on organic solid-state chemistry; organometallic chemistry; organic photochemistry; electron-transfer redox reactions; and synthesis of sulfur, selenium, and tellurium heterocyclic compounds. His undergraduate professor, George Kaufman, says Cowan designed, synthesized, and characterized the first "organic metal" and referred to Cowan as "the father of organic conductors and superconductors." After 31 years of research, teaching, and mentoring, Cowan retired in 1994. Among his awards, Cowan received an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship (1968-70) and a Guggenheim Fellowship (University of Basel, Switzerland, 1970-71), and he was named Alexander von Humboldt Senior Scientist (University of Heidelberg, Germany, 1992-93). Cowan was preceded in death by his wife, LaVon (Bonnie). He is survived by his sister. An emeritus member, he joined ACS in 1959. Herbert D. (Ted) Doan, 83, former president and CEO of Dow Chemical Co. from 1962 to 1971, died on May 16 (C&EN, May 22, page 20). He was the last family member to serve as CEO of the company founded by his grandfather in 1897 and was credited with restructuring the company to compete on a global scale. He was born in Midland, Mich., and studied chemical engineering at Cornell University. He left Cornell in 1943 to enlist in the Air Force. Unable to pass the vision test to be a pilot, he spent most of World War II in the Pacific Theater as a meteorologist. W h e n Doan graduated from Cornell, he joined Dow. A few weeks later, his father unexpectedly became the company's president. WWW.CEN-0NLINE.ORG
Doan was 40 when he took over for his father. W h e n he stepped down as president eight years later, it was because he believed the company needed to keep putting younger people in senior positions to provide the energy, drive, and new ideas that would move the company forward. He then founded a small venture capital firm and later a small business investment company. Among his many public service and philanthropic activities, Doan served as chairman to both the Herbert H. & Grace A. Dow Foundation and the Michigan Molecular Institute. He also served on the National Science Board and the board of the congressional Office of Technology Assessment in Washington, D.C., and devoted time and resources to improving science education on both the university and K-12 levels. Doan and his wife, Annajunia Doan, are also recognized for many civic improvements in the town of Midland. "I can think of no one who better exemplified the bedrock small-town midwestern values of hard work, generosity, humility, and genuine concern for others that Ted demonstrated every day of his wonderful life," notes a statement from Andrew Liveris, Dow's CEO. Doan is survived by his wife and their daughter as well as his four children from a previous marriage. An emeritus member, he joined ACS in 1950. Stephen Sichak Sr., 77, a chemical safety specialist and author of "The Laboratory Safety Deskbook, I: A Guide to OSHA Standards," died in his sleep on May 11. An emeritus member, Sichak joined ACS in 1960. He became active in the Chicago Section in 1964, but his true passion began in 1972, when he chaired what is now the section's Environmental Health & Safety Committee for three years. Among numerous leadership positions in the section and at the national level, Sichak served the section as a director for 15 years and was a councilor since 1980. He received the Distinguished Service Award from the Chicago Section in 1994. He was born on the east side of Chicago, and earned a B.S. in chemistry from St. Louis University and another B.S. in microbiology from the University of Indiana. Sichak began his career with the Toni Division of Gillette Co. in 1956. In 1967, he was appointed laboratory safety director. He also worked as a technical coordinator of product safety at
Dr. ScholTs and safety supervisor for Arco. After spending a decade at Argonne National Laboratory, he retired in 1996. Sichak was involved with Toastmasters at Argonne. He was also a minister at his church and on its parish council for three years. He loved to cook and considered veal parmesan one of his specialties. He is survived by his wife, Peg; 13 children; and 16 grandchildren. Warren E. Stewart, 81, emeritus professor of chemical and biological engineering at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, died on March 27 Colleagues classified Stewart as "an impressive generalist" because he wrote significant and detailed contributions on such varied topics as vapor pressure, kinetics of benzene hydrogenation, catalysis, Bayesian statistics, insulation qualities of animal fur, and distillation column design. They add that his research and modeling results, which have been adopted around the world, increased the fundamental understanding of chemical phenomena and significantly influenced industrial practice. He wrote a well-known textbook called "Transport Phenomena" in I960 and was coauthoring a book on computer-aided modeling at the time of his death. During World War II, Stewart enlisted in the Naval Reserve and attended Wisconsin as a Naval engineering trainee under the V-12 program. The Wisconsin native served as a communications officer on the aircraft carrier USS Midway after graduating with a B.S. in 1945. He also earned an M.S. from Wisconsin in 1947 and an Sc.D. from Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology in 1951. All of his degrees were in chemical engineering. Stewart then spent five years at Sinclair Research Laboratories followed by four decades as a professor at Wisconsin. As a visiting professor at universities in Argentina and Mexico, he lectured in Spanish. He retired in 1997 An emeritus member, he joined ACS in 1954. Among his accolades, Stewart won the E. V. Murphree Award in Industrial & Engineering Chemistry in 1989. Stewart was known for kindness, a sly sense of humor, and love of puns. His colleagues gave him a sign that sat on his desk: "Incorrigible punster—don't incorrige." He is survived by his wife, Jean; six children; and 18 grandchildren. Obituaries are written by Rachel Petkewich. Obituary notices may be sent to r_petkewich@ acs.org and should include detailed educational and professional history. C&EN
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