The North American Catalysis Society (NACS)

Alex Mills: the catalyst chemist

George Alexander "Alex" Mills, Age 90 of Hockessin, DE died April 28, 2004 at Christiana Hospital in Newark. He was born March 20, 1914 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, CN and became a U.S. citizen in 1942. He was a resident of Swarthmore, PA for 28 years; Bethesda, MD for 12 years; and Newark and Hockessin, DE for 20 years.

Dr. Mills was a chemist for over 40 years, making major
contributions to industrial catalytic processes, particularly
hydrocarbon fuels and petrochemicals including DABCO for polyurethanes.
He was executive director of the Center for Catalytic Science &
Technology at the University of Delaware until 1984; chief of the Coal
Division Bureau of Mines; director of the Office of International
Cooperation Fossil Energy at the Department of Energy in Washington, DC;
and director of research at Houdry Process Corporation (Air Products) in
Marcus Hook, PA.

He received the Henry H. Storch Award from the American Chemical
Society; the Pioneer Award from the American Institute of Chemists; and
the E.V. Murphree Award in chemistry from Exxon Mobil Research. He was
elected to the National Academy of Engineering. He was author and
co-author of 143 articles in technical publications and held 60 U.S.
patents. Dr. Mills was president of the Catalysis Society of North America from 1969-73. He served as chairman of both, the Fuels Division, ACS and the Petroleum Division,ACS at different times. He was chairman of the Philadelphia Catalysis Club during the organization of the First International Congress on
Catalysis (Philadelphia, 1954-56). Finally he and his work were greatly
influenced by his close cooperation with Eugene Houdry.

He received a BS and an MS from the University of Saskatchewan and
a PhD from Columbia University, where he studied with Nobel Prize winner
Harold Urey.

Contributed by Thanks to The News Journal (Delaware)

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