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American Chemical Society
MR. GEORGE W. CLEARY
Lake Carroll, Illinois
George Cleary was born December 16, 1928 in Chicago, Illinois. He lived in Chicago until 1958 except for college and military service. Thereafter he lived in suburban Chicago and in Lake Villa, IL until 1998. He retired to Lake Carroll (Lanark), IL in 1998, at which time he joined the IL-IA Section.
Mr. Cleary attended St. Mary's College in Winona, Minnesota from 1946 to 1950, earning a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in chemistry and minors in physics, math, and philosophy. He also studied chemistry at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago 1950-1951.
Throughout his professional career, Mr. Cleary worked as an analytical chemist specializing in spectroscopy. Starting with mass spectrometry, he progressed through UV, IR, NMR, UV fluorescence, Raman, and emission spectroscopies. His closest, longest, and final association was with IR, including IR microspectroscopy. He has applied his skills to the analysis of samples ranging from research lab to worldwide field unknowns.
Mr. Cleary's scientific career started in 1951 at Sinclair Research Labs, Harvey, IL, as a group leader in the mass spec and UV calculation area. In 1953-1955, he served in the U.S. Army's Scientific and Professional Personnel Program at the Chemical Corps' Army Chemical Center in Edgewood, Maryland. There, in addition to practicing new skills (such as KP!) he performed emission spectroscopy studies of Chemical Corps materials.
Returning to Sinclair in 1955, Mr. Cleary became more involved in a variety of spectroscopic techniques. In 1969 Atlantic Richfield Co. (ARCO) acquired the Sinclair Oil Corp. and Mr. Cleary survived a 50% reduction in the workforce there.
As supervisor of the Molecular Spectroscopy Lab, he was involved in several studies conducted in cooperation with ASTM Committee D-19 on Water, of which he was a member and an officer at the sub-committee level. Twice he visited the oil fields at Prudhoe Bay, AK, to instruct ARCO lab personnel concerning various aspects of performing IR analyses.
In 1985, when it withdrew from marketing of petroleum products in all but five western states, ARCO also closed the Harvey Technical Center. Rather than continue with the company in California, George Cleary opted to accept early retirement.
At about this time, Abbott Labs, in Abbott Park, IL, was in need of someone with his background to be group leader of the IR Lab in its Pharmaceutical Products Division. After analyzing barrels of oil and black gunk for 34 years in the petroleum industry, switching to the pharmaceutical industry with its milligrams of white crystals proved to be less traumatic than he had feared! Indeed, Mr. Cleary states it was a very rewarding experience. Historically, IR microspectroscopy was becoming increasingly important as a tool for investigating minute samples ranging from research products to industrial problems and Abbott supported the efforts of the IR Lab well through continual acquisition of the latest IR and Raman instrumentation.
After 11 1/2 years with Abbott, Mr. Cleary retired a second (and final!) time in 1997.
Mr. Cleary notes that while he was a student he worked the usual types of summer jobs, plus one that probably no longer is listed in career guides: Grave Digger. He comments that this experience probably qualifies him to claim that he started at a somewhat lower-than-ground-level entry position!
In addition to his ACS membership, Mr. Cleary maintained the "Certified Professional Chemist" status for over 20 years, as recognized by the American Institute of Chemists.
When asked to comment on his career as a chemist, Mr. Cleary writes,
"After arriving at a point in my career where I had attained a satisfactory standard of living, I realized that I really enjoyed my work and that I didn't have any ambition to 'climb to the top.' As a result, I had the opportunity to act as mentor to many younger and less experienced chemists (and technicians), some of whom had far greater formal book knowledge of chemistry than I. In this way I was able to add stability to the area in which I worked and also to train others to think as analysts, not just as knob turners or button pushers.
"Although certain work had to be completed and schedules had to be met, throughout my experience I generally was free to 'do my thing' in the manner I chose. I always appreciated that freedom---it worked out well and I enjoyed it."
George and Joan Cleary have been married for 42 years. Their two children live in Springfield, IL and Topeka, KS, respectively. The move to Lake Carroll, IL represents the culmination of years of hoping and planning to retire to a log home in an area with hills and water. Their home is ideally situated on a hill with plenty of room for ham antennas; he has been licensed as amateur radio operator K9CRX for 44 years. Maintaining long-standing friendships via radio with other hams throughout the country has been a very rewarding experience, Mr. Cleary states. A second hobby is amateur astronomy.
http://membership.acs.org/I/ILIA/tribute.html
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