Dr. Robert Gene LAUGHLIN

LAUGHLIN

Dr. Robert Gene, of Cincinnati, Ohio, died Sunday, February 15, 2015. Dr. Laughlin was born August 9, 1930, in Sullivan, Indiana, son of the late Frank and Iva Alma Duke Laughlin. He is succeeded by his wife Eunila, and his two sons - Steve (Terri) and Ken (Yili), and his three grandchildren, Natalie, Alice and Annabelle. Dr. Laughlin married Eunila Maria Farias Laughlin, née de Moraes Farias, in January 23, 2010. He had occasionally resided in Brazil since meeting her in Rio de Janeiro in March, 2004. Dr. Laughlin was educated in the Public Schools of Sullivan and Bloomfield, Indiana. He attended Purdue (BS, 1951) and Cornell Universities (PhD, 1955), and during the 1955-56 school year was a post-doctoral student of Professor Wm. Von E. Doering, then at Yale University. In 1956 he joined The Procter & Gamble Company, in Cincinnati, Ohio, as a research chemist. He was appointed Section Head in 1968, Research Fellow in 1993, and retired in 1999. Dr. Laughlin was an internationally-known authority on experimental phase science and on the chemistry and technology of surfactants. (Surfactants are soap-like compounds of great industrial and scientific importance). In 1994 he published a book, The Aqueous Phase Behavior of Surfactants, that is still widely used in both universities and industries. He also published more than 50 other professional articles and book chapters. In 1968-1978, he developed new contraceptive technology. In 1987, he developed a new principle for doing phase studies - the first such innovation in more than a century. In 1999, he contributed an endowed Chair to Cornell University (The Frank and Robert Laughlin Chair of Physical Chemistry), in order to strengthen phase science in the US. After retirement he created a 10-lecture Short Course on the Experimental Phase Science of Small Molecules, and presented this at numerous universities and companies around the world. He wished any memorial gifts to be donated to the Nature Conservancy, at http://www.nature.org/membership-giving/donation/index.htm, or mail to the Nature Conservancy, 6375 Riverside Drive,, Suite 100 Dublin, Ohio 43017. Online Condolences www.clepperfuneralchapel.com. Visitation will be held at Clepper Funeral Chapel from 10:00 AM - 12:00PM, with a short ceremony immediately following the visitation, on Saturday, February 21, 2015, at 2961 Madison Road, Cincinnati, OH 45209. A reception will follow from 1:00-2:30 at the University of Cincinnati, Department of Chemistry, Oesper History of Chemistry Museum and Rare Book Room, Room 520 Rieveschl. For directions to the reception, please see the Clepper web site

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