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Francis Oliver Whipple ’48

Francis Oliver Whipple ’48, March 16, 2008, in Richmond, British Columbia. Francis attended Reed for a year-and-a-half before military enlistment in World War II. He returned to the college and completed a BA in chemistry. From Oregon State University, he earned an MS in chemistry and a PhD in physical chemistry. He then took a position in the central research office of Crown Zellerbach in Camas, Washington, where he was project leader in charge of wood products and agricultural papers research. In 1959, he accepted a transfer to Vancouver, B.C., where he was manager of new product development for the Canadian Western Lumber Company, a subsidiary of Crown Zellerbach. In an oral history interview with E. Gail Miedema ’95, in 2003, Francis noted that he “fell in love” with the humanities program at Reed. “I would have to say it was one of the highlights of my experience at Reed . . . I found that it influenced me a great deal in my later life. My attitude later became one—when I was a teaching assistant, when I was in graduate school—to encourage students to get a liberal education foremost, and a scientific education secondary. And I still believe that and I would certainly encourage any young person to do that.” Survivors include his wife, Edita.

Appeared in Reed magazine: November 2008