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Memorial Tributes: Volume 8 (1996)

Chapter: Keith W. McHenry, JR.

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Suggested Citation:"Keith W. McHenry, JR.." National Academy of Engineering. 1996. Memorial Tributes: Volume 8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5427.
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Page 148
Suggested Citation:"Keith W. McHenry, JR.." National Academy of Engineering. 1996. Memorial Tributes: Volume 8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5427.
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Page 149
Suggested Citation:"Keith W. McHenry, JR.." National Academy of Engineering. 1996. Memorial Tributes: Volume 8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5427.
×
Page 150
Suggested Citation:"Keith W. McHenry, JR.." National Academy of Engineering. 1996. Memorial Tributes: Volume 8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5427.
×
Page 151
Suggested Citation:"Keith W. McHenry, JR.." National Academy of Engineering. 1996. Memorial Tributes: Volume 8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5427.
×
Page 152
Suggested Citation:"Keith W. McHenry, JR.." National Academy of Engineering. 1996. Memorial Tributes: Volume 8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5427.
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Page 153

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KEITH W . MCHENRY' JR 1 928-1 994 BY RICHARD C. ALKIRE . - KEITH W. MCHENRY, retired senior vice-president of technol- ogy for Amoco Corporation, died on January 21, 1994, at the age of sixty-five. Keith, who spent his entire professional ca- reer with Amoco Company and its affiliates, was a respected and progressive manager as well as a successful researcher in the area of catalysis. His research accomplishments included the development and commercialization of the worId's most acivancecl residual of! hydroprocessor. Keith was born in Champaign, Illinois, and raised in West Allis, Wisconsin. He receiver! his B.S. degree in chemical engi- neering from the University of Illinois in 1951 and his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Princeton University in 1958. He was most recently a Chicago resident. Keith joined Amoco in 1955 as an assistant project chemical engineer in the Research and Development Department at Whit- ing, Indiana. While in this position, Keith made significant contributions to Amoco's research in the catalytic cracking and demetalation of reduced crudest He was promoted to group lead- er in 1958 and supervised several discoveries, which led to Amoco patents, some of which dramatically increased the yield of gaso- line from crude oil. In 1962 Keith became project manager and was promoted to research associate in 1966. In the early 1960s Keith led influential research on zeolite cracking catalyst tech- nology. By 1967 Keith was named director of process research 149

150 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES and was responsible for all research in catalytic cracking, thermal processing, and alkylation. Under his leaclership, his group de- veloped a reduced crude catalytic desulfurization process, which was the forerunner of a process commercialized by Amoco in the l980s. In the early 1970s as director of process and analytical research, Keith manager! the research/manufacturing interface and rapidly moved process en c! catalyst improvements from the laboratory to the refinery. Most notably, through his leadership, Amoco Oil was the first to introduce lead-free regular and premi- um gasolines nationwide. In 1974 Keith moved to Amoco's Research and Develop- ment Department in Naperville, Illinois, first as manager of process research and one year later as vice-president. During his fifteen years in this position, Keith oversaw a number of innovations, including the development of long-lasting syn- thetic oils for automobiles, the development and successful operation of proprietary catalyst system and process configu- ration for upgrading vacuum resiclual oils, en cl clevelopments that lecl to refinery units for hydroprocessing catalytic crack- ing feedstocks en c! resid blends. As a research and development director and technology executive, Keith was an Arr~oco representative to the Industri- al Research Institute, Inc. (IRI) for eighteen years, during which he served on its board for eight years and was president cluring 1988 and 1989. Before he became president of IRI, he chaired the institute's University Relations Committee, chaired the program committee for the institute's fiftieth Anniversary Meeting, and lecl an advisory group on moving TRI heaclquar- ters to Washington, D.C. In 1989 Keith was elected senior vice-president of technolo- gy for Amoco. In this position he coordinated the research activities of Amoco and its operating companies and directed the development of new technologies. Keith had a wide-rang- ing vision and was involved in helping Amoco move ahead to explore alternatives for the time when oil would no longer be its main source of business. In addition, Keith was heavily in- volved in helping develop lower-pollution fuels, working particularly with Amoco's waste management subsidiary. Keith retired from Amoco in April 1993.

KEITH W. MCHENRY, JR. 151 Keith was elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in 1982. Since that time he served on a number of committees, including the Committee on Membership, the Industry Panel of the Study on International Cooperation in Engineering, the Chemical/Petroleum Engineering Peer Committee, and the Committee on Forces Affecting the U.S. Academic Engineering Research Enterprise. Keith served on the National Research Council Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems (CETS) Committee on Strategic Petro- leum Reserve and the joint CETS and Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Applications (CPSMA) Commit- tee on Chemical Engineering Frontiers: Research Needs and Opportunities. He also chaired the joint CETS and CPSMA Pane] on Energy and Natural Resources Processing between 1985 and 1988. Keith was a member of the American Chemical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Petroleum Institute, and the Catalysis Society, and he was selected as a fellow to the American Institute of Chem- ical Engineers. In 1988 Keith received the Award in Chemical Engineering Practice from the American Institute of Chemi- cal Engineers for his contributions to the petroleum industry. Keith always remained visible to engineers outside of Arno- co, as was evidenced by the numerous invitations he received as a distinguished lecturer. In 1981 he was the Charles D. Hurd Lecturer for the Department of Chemistry at Northwest- ern University; in 1983 he presented the Thiele Lectures in Chemical Engineering for the Department of Fuels Engineer- ing at the University of Utah; and in 1987 he was invited as the Gerster Memorial Lecturer for the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Delaware. Keith was heavily involved in furthering industrial-academic relations. Not only was he a frequent speaker on engineering education, but he served on advisory boards for Princeton University, the Uni- versity of Delaware, and the University of Illinois at both Urbana-Champaign and Chicago. Keith championed the Uni- versity of Chicago School Mathematics Program, which showed his concern with science and mathematics education down to

152 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES the elementary level. He also was a driving force in establish- ing the University of Delaware's Center for Catalytic Science and Technology, whose graduates are familiarized with indus- trial goals. Keith was convinced of the need to provide strong engineering education, and he acted on these convictions. He wrote, "The future of American industry- and the future of the nation will clepencI on our success in educating the peo- ple we must have to develop and implement new technology in an increasingly technological world." Keith McHenry had an impact on chemical engineering from a variety of dimensions. He was an influential research- er, a respected leacler of Amoco Oil, and an effective advocate of close industry-university relations. Keith also had an impact on people, and he will be remembered with respect as a straightforwarcl, honest person who cared cleeply for family, friencls, and colleagues. .

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This series presents biographies of deceased members of the National Academy of Engineering.

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