Warren Cotton Ashley.

Warren Cotton Ashley, a key developer of Magic Markers, passed away on March 29, 2004 at the age of 99. A long-time member of the Chicago Society, he was the 1961 recipient of their Outstanding Service Award.

A graduate of the University of Illinois, Dr. Ashley earned a bachelor's degree in education and a master's degree in science. Following a research fellowship at Iowa State College, he returned to the University of Illinois and earned a Ph.D. Degree in organic chemistry with minors in physical chemistry and physics. While at the university, he made various organic compounds including orthophenanthrolene, an indicator for iron, and a series of compounds to test the theory of hydrogen bonding. During this period he worked for F.C. Huyck and Sons.

Upon completion of his degrees, Dr. Ashley was employed in the synthetic chemical department of Eastman Kodak Co., before joining Battelle Memorial Institute as a research chemist. At the Institute, he set up the organic chemical department, which specialized in plastics and produced a foamed urea resin, perhaps the first of the lightweight foamed plastics. From 1938 to 1962 he worked for Pyroxylin Products, Chicago, IL, as a developer of lacquers and adhesives. His work included a formulation of heat seal and nonheat seal moisture vapor-proof lacquers for paper and formulas for strippable lacquers. He then worked for several years for the George J. Aigner Co. in Chicago. Dr. Ashley then moved to Sanford & Sons Co., Chicago, where he played a key role in the creation of Magic Markers. While with Sanford & Sons, he was also instrumental in the formulation of flocked and colored wallpaper and paints and glues.

Dr. Ashley was a longstanding Honorary Member of the, then named, Chicago Society for Paint Technology. He served as chairman of the Society's Membership, Technical, Standards and Methods of Test, Publicity, Program, Outstanding Service Award, Nominating, Yearbook, Executive, and Golf Outing Committees. His Technical Committee won first prize with their research paper, "Comparison of Recently Developed Plasticizers for Nitro-Cellulose," at the FSCT's 1945 Annual Meeting in Chicago.

Dr. Ashley also held all the elected offices of the Chicago Society including president (1954-55) and alternate Federation Council Representative (1956-58). In 1961 the Society honored him with their Outstanding Service Award.

For the FSCT, he served on the Registration, Publications, George B. Heckel Award, Material, and other Committees. He published numerous technical articles for journals on coatings, particularly those used in the paper-converting field. Dr. Ashley was a member of the American Chemical Society, a past president of the Chemical Arts Forum, a member of the Chicago Chapter of the Technical Association of Pulp and Paper Industry, and was listed in American Men of Science and the Sigma Xi and Phi Lambda Upsilon fraternities.

After over 30 years of his professional life and over 20 years of service to the Federation of Societies for Paint Technology, Dr. Ashley is survived by his daughter, Elizabeth, six grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.