Michael H. "Mike" Scholla Ph.D.

1956 - 2024

Michael (Mike) H. Scholla, PhD, Emeritus Medical Packaging Fellow at DuPont Medical Packaging, of Elkton, Maryland died peacefully on January 26, 2024 surrounded by his loving family. He was 68 years old.

Mike was born in 1956 in Belém, Brazil, the son of Clara H. Scholla and Paul F. Scholla, both deceased. His father Paul was a mining engineer who led mining operations around the world. Mike had the opportunity to live in Brazil, Hawaii, Korea, and Thailand while growing up and developed a great appreciation of different cultures and cuisines.

Upon returning to the United States, Mike spent his early elementary years in Front Royal, Virginia followed by the unique experience of attending The Choir School of St. Thomas Church in New York City for grades 4-8 and 9th grade at St. Georges School in Middletown, RI.

In 1969 Mike's family moved to the Orlando, Florida area where he attended Winter Park High School and played varsity soccer. After high school Mike attended Florida Technological University (now University of Central Florida.) He again played soccer, was a member of the cheerleading squad, and a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, all while earning both his bachelor's and master's degrees in microbiology. Mike married Pamela Davies while at FTU.

Mike and his wife then moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, where he earned his PhD in Microbiology at North Carolina State and Chris, their son, was born. After receiving his degree Mike accepted a tenured professorship at Memphis State University in Memphis, Tennessee. It was there they had their daughter Megan.

In 1988 Mike accepted a position with the Dupont Corporation and the family moved to Wilmington, Delaware. He had a highly distinguished career at Dupont where he served as Global Director, Regulatory Standards, at DuPont Medical

Packaging. Through his work Mike made important contributions to the global development of state-of-the-art sterile packaging practices and to the protection of patients who rely on sterile medical devices. He is recognized for his work promoting the adoption of ISO 11607, the internationally accepted standard for medical packaging-one of the best-known standards in the medical device industry. Additionally, he served as a consultant in sterilizing the U.S. Senate Offices following the anthrax attack in 2001.

While working at Dupont, Mike was deeply involved with the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) where he served on AAMI Board of Directors for sixteen years, including many years as the Chairman of the Board.

Mike has received numerous awards and recognitions for his work including the University of Central Florida Burnett College of Biomedical Sciences Professional Achievement Award as well as the prestigious Kilmer Award at the 2016 Kilmer Conference.

Golf, cooking and travel were Mike's hobbies in his spare time, but most importantly, he loved spending time with his family, especially his grandchildren.

Mike is survived by his second wife Janet (Muffy) Renz; son Christopher Scholla, his wife Surita and grandsons Tucker and Brody; and his daughter Megan Taylor, her husband Jeff Taylor and grandchildren Brinley, Austin, Brooks, and Maeve. He is also survived by his brother Stephen Scholla and his sister Tiki McCarthy Finney.

A gathering of family and friends will be held at R.T. Foard Funeral Home - 259 E. Main St., Elkton, Md on Saturday, February 10th from 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm. Following this, a Memorial Service will commence at 6:30 pm.