Olin Borum

BORUM OLIN H. BORUM, 90 Scientist, Air Force Colonel Retired Col. Olin Henry Borum, 90, died of heart failure on January 22nd at Mt. Vernon Hospital. Born November 3, 1917, in Spencer, NC, to Oscar Henry and Marjorie Mae (Leigh), he served as an intelligence officer in World War II, an instructor at the West Point Military Academy, a military officer in the U.S. Air Force, and as a research chemist for the government. Col. Borum earned a B.S. in chemistry in 1938 from UNC. In 1941 he joined the U.S. Army until 1946. During World War II, he was an officer in the Military Intelligence Service, U.S. 7th Army, in the European Theater of Operations, where he served as a German interpreter in the interrogation of prisoners of war. Following the war, he returned to UNC where he earned both his M.S. and Ph.D. in chemistry, with honors. After working as a research chemist for du Pont in Philadelphia, he was an assistant research professor of oncology at the University of Florida. He joined the U.S. Air Force as a Major in 1951 and taught chemistry at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point until 1955. There, he earned an assistant professorship and would later fondly reflect on his time at West Point as the most gratifying of his career. He would also teach part-time at UNC, the University of Maryland and the University of Virginia. From 1956 until 1961, he was staff supervisor in chemical and biological warfare for the U.S. Army Chemical Corps, Research and Development Command, representing the Department of the Army on matters for the Mutual Weapons Development Program. In 1961, he was stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and was Deputy for Technology, Aeronautical Systems Division (later re-designated as Deputy Commander for Research and Engineering). In 1964, he returned to Washington, D.C., where he held the position of Research and Development Administrator with the U.S. Army Headquarters Materiel Command, focusing on chemical weapons, until he retired in 1976. After retirement, he worked as a real estate agent, becoming a broker in 1979. He maintained proficiency in German, French, Spanish and Portuguese. He was an officer in the National Sojourners, and a member of the American Chemical Society, the Masons and Shriners, Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, and the Presbyterian Church. He is survived by: his daughter, Pamela Leigh; two sons, Robin (Rebecca) and Denis (Grace) Borum; and one grandchild, Julia Borum. Friends may call at Everly-Wheatley Funeral Home, 1500 West Braddock Road, Alexandria, VA on Saturday, February 2 from 12 noon until time of service at 2 p.m. Interment will be held on Monday, February 4 at 9 a.m. at Arlington National Cemetery with full Military Honors. He is survived by: his daughter, Pamela Leigh; two sons, Robin (Rebecca) and Denis (Grace) Borum; and one grandchild, Julia Borum. Friends may call at Everly-Wheatley Funeral Home, 1500 West Braddock Road, Alexandria, VA on Saturday, February 2 from 12 noon until time of service at 2 p.m. Interment will be held on Monday, February 4 at 9 a.m. at Arlington National Cemetery with full Military Honors.