Wallace Brockman

Robert Wallace Brockman died in Charlottesville, Va. on April 21, 2016, at the age of 91.
Memorial services will be held Saturday, June 18, 2016, at 3 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Ala. and Saturday, July 9, 2016, at 3 p.m. at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church UU in Charlottesville, Va. Interment will be at Evergreen Cemetery in Chester at an as yet undetermined date.
Wallace was born in Chester on Dec. 8, 1924, to the late Myron Ernest Brockman and Nancy Wilson Brockman. Also pre-deceased are his three siblings, Myron E. Brockman Jr., James W. Brockman and Allan A. Brockman. Wallace was an Eagle Scout, honor student and athlete (track) and graduated from high school in 1941 at age 16. He left his undergraduate study of chemistry at Clemson University at age 18 to join the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1943, and served as a meteorologist at airbases in India and China.
After the war he studied chemistry at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., where he met his wife Jean Early (Brockman), and received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry. The young couple moved to Birmingham in 1952 and Wallace began his nearly 40-year career as a research biochemist at the Southern Research Institute, working with a team of scientists to develop the initial scientific principles for the chemotherapy of cancer. From 1964 to 1966, Wallace contributed to biochemistry research at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.
Wallace and Jean were active members of the Audubon Society, the National Wildlife Federation and the Alabama Conservancy (now Alabama Environmental Council). They inspired many in their family and community to learn about and become advocates for wildlife. His interest in music was wide-ranging, from classical, choral and opera works to jazz and folk music. He served as treasurer of the Birmingham Civic Chorus during the 1970s. Wallace and Jean were also faithful and long-time members of the First Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, where Wallace served as an Elder and member of the Church Choir.
After retiring from Southern Research Institute in 1990, Wallace and Jean moved to Charlottesville, Va. An avid gardener, he spent his last 25 years in Charlottesville tending their gardens, watching birds and other wildlife and caring for their lovely home. Wallace will be remembered by family and many friends as a kind and gracious man with a strong will and wonderful sense of humor, and as a devoted husband, father and grandfather.
Wallace is survived by his wife of 67 years, Jean Early Brockman; two daughters, Alison Brockman Booth (Mark) and Anne Brockman Hoos of Nashville, Tenn.; and two granddaughters, Liza Hoos (Aaron Sharp) of Durham, N.C. and Meredith Hoos of Nashville, Tenn.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his name to The American Cancer Society. Contact information for the society is 1-800-227-2345.