Dennis Weatherby
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| Dr. Dennis Weatherby | |
| Born | December 4, 1959 Brighton, Alabama, USA |
|---|---|
| Died | September 15, 2007 (aged 47) Alexandria, Kentucky, USA |
| Spouse | Marpessa Weatherby |
| Children | 3 daughters Audrey, Elaine, Rachel and Antoneah; two sons, Ryan and Stephen |
Dennis W. Weatherby, Ph.D (December 4, 1959 – September 15, 2007) was an inventor, scientist, university administrator, and proponent of minority college students' success.
Dr. Weatherby had a patent on "lemon scented Cascade" while working at Proctor & Gamble. As the founding director of Auburn University's Minority Engineering Program, he made Auburn one of the top universities for graduating African Americans in the field of engineering.[citation needed]
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[edit] Early life
Dr. Weatherby was born December 4, 1959 in Brighton, Alabama the son of Willie and Flossie Mae Weatherby. He attended Midfield High School and later attended Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1982. From there he moved onto the University of Dayton where he completed a master’s degree in chemical engineering in 1984. Soon after finishing his studies, Weatherby began working for the Proctor & Gamble in Cincinnati, Ohio, as a process engineer.[citation needed]
[edit] Career
With his team, Weatherby developed a solution that employed a category of dyes that could be used in products containing bleach and, at the same time, would give the soap a lemon-yellow color that would not stain dishes. Before his invention, pigments were used in such solutions that often stained dishes and dishwasher interiors. With fellow inventor Brian J. Roselle, he received U.S. patent No. 4,714,562, issued on Dec. 22, 1987, for his breakthrough “Automatic dishwasher detergent composition.” The solution serves as the basic formula behind all of today’s “lemon-scented” cleaning products containing bleach.[citation needed]
Following his stint with P&G, Weatherby briefly worked for the Whittaker Corporation, a division of Morton International. Then, in 1989, he began working for his alma mater, CSU, as an academic advisor and recruiter in the water resources center. According to the school, which has historically catered to black students, under Weatherby’s leadership the program experienced a more than 400 percent growth in student enrollment with a better than 80 percent retention rate. In 1994 he became an assistant professor of water quality at CSU in its International Center for Water Resources Management. He also served as the primary recruiter, advisor and counselor for students in the environmental program at CSU.[citation needed]
In 1996, Weatherby moved on to the institution where he had completed his graduate studies, Auburn University, to become director of the school’s new minority engineering program. There he served as a role model and advisor for black and other young minority men and women and also chaired external programs such as an undergraduate science symposium for showcasing students’ research from six area colleges and universities.[1] An MEP (Minority Engineering Program) report stated that minority first-year freshman pre-engineering students involved in the program in 1998-99 had a mean grad-point average over their first three academic quarters of 2.70. Nearly 79 percent of the participants had GPAs equal to or better than the 2.20 required to begin taking engineering courses. By comparison, white first year freshman pre-engineering students had a mean GPA after three quarters of 2.56 and just below 70 percent had the required 2.20 GPA.[2] Dr. Weatherby left Auburn to become an associate dean of the graduate school at the University of Notre Dame in 2004. In 2006, he became the Associate Provost for Student Success at Northern Kentucky UniversityNorthern Kentucky University, which he served until his death in September 2007.[citation needed]
[edit] Death
Dr. Weatherby died from what doctors speculate was a blood clot that had traveled to his brain. After struggling with high blood pressure most of his life, his kidneys sustained severe damage. Dr. Weatherby spent a week in the hospital and a week at home on medication to lower his blood pressure. He was 47 when he died.[citation needed]
According to one of his daughters, Audrey Weatherby, during his time at home he hit his foot on a bedpost. Doctors believe a clot formed and eventually caused his death.[citation needed]
Dr.Weatherby is survived by his wife of 23 years, Marpessa D. (Nee Huguely) Weatherby; four daughters, Audrey, Elaine, Rachel and Antoneah; two sons, Ryan and Stephen; five brothers and six sisters.[3]
