Better living through chemistry.

When Arkansas-born Bill Toller married his wife, Jo Ella, in 1959, he made her one promise besides "for better or worse": to avoid at all costs a move to the Northeast region of the U.S. But a generation. later, he found himself running a company in New York, a city that represents the antithesis of country living.

Why the change of scenery and change of heart? Chalk it up to a hankering for challenge and a call from a troubled, family-owned company that had spread itself too thin.

When Witco tapped Toller to be CFO in 1986, the $1.36 billion specialty chemicals company was a patchwork quilt of acquired businesses, many of which had retained their identities and brand names. When he was named chairman and CEO in 1990, succeeding the retired son of the 75-year-old company's founder, progress remained painful, with the bottom line growing just an average 1 percent a year. Since then, however, with Toller at the controls, revenues and net income both have jumped more than 50 percent, and Witco's stock has outpaced 15 percent growth in the S&P mid-cap chemical index by a multiple of four.

Toller's secret to success: He busted up Fortune 500 Witco like a giant Lego toy and set about putting it back together again. That meant divesting noncore businesses and refocusing the company as a maker of specialty chemicals used by manufacturers in automotive, food, textiles, and personal-care products, including Procter & Gamble and Chesebrough-Ponds.

In the process, Toller concentrated on getting once-provincial-minded Witco to act its age and behave like a big company. By the year 2000, Toller seeks to double sales to the $5 billion mark and become the world's largest specialty chemicals maker.

"We're doing more in-house research and development," says Toller, a 29-year veteran of oil and gas giant Conoco, who joined the Witco fold when the company acquired Conoco subsidiary Continental Carbon in 1984. "We're investing more in training and recruitment. We're pushing pay-for-performance down in the ranks to the supervisory level. And as our customers consolidate their suppliers, we're trying to offer them one-stop shopping."

The blueprint wins kudos from Wall Street, but a number of hurdles loom.

"Raw material costs are relatively high, and the company hasn't been able to pass those costs on to its customers," says James H. Wilbur, managing director of Smith Barney in New York. Wilbur also points out that Toller agreed to stay on past Witco's normal retirement age of 65 - which he reached last summer - to oversee the sale of its troubled lubricants business and the integration of OSi Specialties, a $450 million-in-revenues chemical company acquired last year. "Until the market gets a sense of who's going to lead the company, it's problematic what to do about investment," Wilbur says.

Toller took the stick as CEO in 1990 from Bill Wishnick, a witty, urbane Manhattanite who enjoyed mingling with employees and courting analysts. While possessing a deep drawl and classic Southern charm, Toller - an introspective man who talks frankly about the "wrenching separation" from a lifetime at Conoco, and the cultural changes of moving north - clearly is no cheerleader. He acknowledges the difficulties of following in the footsteps of a "people person."

If there's anything that separates Toller from his predecessor, however, it's his razor-sharp focus and hard eye for numbers: Focusing on core businesses in plastics additives, resins, surfactants, petroleum specialties, and silicones, Toller is a strident cash-flow advocate, who says he'd be hard-pressed to suffer a dilutive acquisition. indeed, the two major additions under his tenure - a $600 million portfolio of European businesses from Germany's Schering AG in 1992 and OSi last year - were accretive from day one.

Once Witco absorbs OSi, Toller plans to accelerate offshore investment. Currently, Witco derives 35 percent of its revenues offshore, but Toller eyes a 50-50 split by 2000, including beefed-up operations in Europe and Asia, including India and China.

With retirement looming, Toller won't be calling the shots as CEO when Witco eclipses the $5 billion mark. Media speculation about a successor-focuses on David Barton, OSi's chief executive; and Frederick Shinners, a chemical engineer/MBA with a GE pedigree, who runs the critical oleo/surfactants division. As a dark horse, CFO Michael Fullwood may get the nod.

But Toller, who moved Witco to Greenwich, CT, in 1992, and has comfortably adjusted to life in suburbia, clings to a "think big" mentality. And he insists the board isn't limiting itself to in-house candidates.

"We have to look outside, as well," says Toller. "We still need some big-company disciplines that we have not developed yet."

RELATED ARTICLE: PROFILE

WILLIAM R. TOLLER President and Chief Executive WITCO

Born: Fort Smith, AK.

Age: 65.

Education: Bachelor's degree, economics, University of Arkansas; graduate, Stanford University Graduate School Executive Program.

Family: Wife, Jo Ella; three children, five grandchildren.

Boards: Chemical Manufacturers Association: regional chairman of the CMA's executive leadership group; National Advisory Board of First Commercial Bank, Little Rock, AK.

Notable achievement: Army captain, 187th Airborne Division.

Interests: Skiing; reading military histories of World Wars I and II; "tinkering around our properties," homes in Starnford, CT, and Houston, and a ski condo in Park City, UT.

Last book read: "Eisenhower: Soldier/General," by S. Ambrose.

Car: 1993 Red Cadillac Sport Touring Sedan.

Mentors: Bill Wishnick, Toller's predecessor as Witco CEO and son of the company's founder, Robert I. Wishnick; Conoco Vice President John Kelly.