Robert Forney, PhD, Class of June, 1944

Robert was class valedictorian in June 1944, and went on to a distinguished career in chemical engineering.  He entered Purdue University in July 1944, earning a bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering, a master of science degree in Industrial Engineering, and a PhD in Chemical Engineering with highest distinction in August 1950. Purdue honored him in 1974 as a Distinguished Engineering Graduate.  In 1984 he was presented with an honorary doctorate in engineering. He serves as a member of the Purdue Research Foundation. 

The duPont Company hired Robert as a research engineer in September 1950 for its Nylon Research Division in Wilmington, Del.  He worked with man-made fibers for duPont for 27 years, rising to assistant general manager of the Textile Fibers Department. In 1974 he was appointed general manager of the department and a vice-president of the corporation. He became vice president of Plastic Products and Resins in 1977; a director, senior vice president and member of the company’s Executive Committee in 1979: executive vice president in 1981. He was responsible for research activities of the company, and at the board level, for the company’s environmental activities arid performance.

He is a past chairman of the Chemical Manufacturers Association and the Advisory Board of the National Science Resources Center of the National Academy of Sciences. He served as a member of the national Management Labor Textile Advisory Committee of the U. S. Department of Commerce. For the State of Delaware, he was a member of the Council on Family Services, the Criminal Justice Council, and the Governor’s Task Force of Education for Economic Development.

Among his many honors, he was cited in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter for his work with the National Alliance of Business in establishing the first Private Industry Council in Delaware. In 1989 he received a public service award from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and a “Silver Snoopy” award from the astronauts for his work as a volunteer consultant in the Space Shuttle after the Challenger accident. He also served as a volunteer consultant to the federal government in subjects from chemical and radioactive waste disposal, technology transfers from academia to industry, and transition from socialist to capitalistic economies in Europe.

Dr. Forney and his wife, Marilyn, have three surviving children and eight grandchildren. They now live in Pennsylvania.