Dr. Eugene Cain

Dr. Eugene Cain died Wednesday, August 1, 2007, at Cannon Memorial Hospital in Linville Falls, North Carolina, following an automobile accident. Dr. Cain and his wife Helen had been dividing their time between Jackson, Mississippi, and Linville Falls since he retired from the Millsaps College Chemistry Department faculty. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at this time.
Dr. Cain was born on June 22, 1932 in Mineral Springs, North Carolina. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina and his graduate degrees in chemistry from Duke University. It was there that he met the love of his life - Helen Quillin - who worked in the Chemistry Department. They married in 1958.
After working as a research chemist for the DuPont Corporation, Dr. Cain joined the Millsaps College faculty in 1960 as an associate professor of chemistry. For forty-two years, he unlocked the secrets of chemistry for countless students and inspired them to become research chemists, doctors and other health-care specialists, and teachers. For more than ten years Dr. Cain chaired the Chemistry Department and the Premedical Advisory Committee, and it was during this time that the department achieved accreditation by the American Chemical Society and acquired a reputation for successfully placing students in medical school and graduate programs. He was a lifetime member of the Mississippi Academy of Sciences of which he was also President and was the recipient of many awards in his field including Chemist of the Year by the American Chemical Society, Mississippi Section in 1998. Dr. Cain was particularly proud of the grant programs he directed at Millsaps funded by both the National Institutes of Health and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute that focused on increasing the number of minority students who would pursue careers in medicine and scientific research.
While Dr. Cain was awarded a number of grants and had a solid record of research and publications during his tenure, he enjoyed teaching and mentoring his students more than anything else. He was recognized by students and faculty alike as a remarkable teacher-scholar who had an uncanny ability to connect his research with his teaching and bring to the classroom real-world stories of how chemistry affects so many other fields. Dr. Cain received the Exemplary Teaching Award from the United Methodist Church in 1992 and served as the first President of the Faculty Council - a measure of the esteem in which he was held by his colleagues. Upon his retirement from Millsaps, Dr. Cain was named an Emeritus Professor in recognition of his distinguished service to the Millsaps College community. A colleague once said of him that "he has devoted himself to the well-being of the college and contributed as much as anyone to its reputation for academic excellence." A student once wrote of his former teacher that "the degree of excellence of this man's character cannot be described."
Another passion of Dr. Cain's was history. He never tired of learning something new or engaging others in pursuits of the mind. He once combined his love of chemistry with his love of history by focusing some of his research into the degradation of paper - a serious problem encountered in the preservation of books and other historical documents. During one sabbatical he put his historical research to good use as a visiting scientist at Colonial Williamsburg and later was invited to present his findings at an international conference in Japan.
Gene Cain was a member of First Baptist Church for as long as he lived in Jackson. There he was a faithful Sunday School teacher, a deacon, a member of a weekly prayer group and a volunteer for Mission First. He worshipped at church each Sunday, but his faith inspired his servant's heart and how he lived and loved every other day of the week.
While Dr. Cain surely loved chemistry, history, and the fellowship of his church community, they were no match for the love he had for his wife of forty-nine years, Helen Cain. They were constant companions whether traveling overseas, going to concerts, collecting antiques, tending to gardens, visiting bonsai nurseries or walking together in their beloved mountains of North Carolina. They loved each other every day of every year they were together.
Gene Cain was preceded in death by his brother Lee Roy Cain, Jr. of Sarasota, Florida. Survivors include his wife, Helen Quillin Cain of Jackson, Mississippi; sister-in-law Elizabeth M. Cain of Sarasota, Florida; nephews Lee Cain, III also of Sarasota, Florida and James H. Cain and wife Rachel of Atlanta, Georgia.
Memorials may be made to Mission First c/o First Baptist Church (P.O. Box 250, Jackson, MS 39205) and the Chemistry Department c/o Millsaps College (1701 North State Street, Jackson MS 39210-0001).