Zeno Wicks, influential Coatings Research chemist, dies at age 86.

Zeno W. Wicks Jr., a research chemist, industry executive, educator, and consultant who made major contributions to the fundamental understanding of coatings and inks, died at his home in Louisville, KY, on June 5, 2007. He was 86. Dr. Wicks is survived by five children: Robin, Zeno III, David, Kathleen, and Douglas; and 12 grandchildren: Steven Denoms, Adam and Eliza Wicks-Arshack, Jay Connelly, and Maxine, Molly, Zeno IV, Sunny, June, Chelsea, Graeme, and Dakota Wicks. He was preceded in death by his wife Susan Wicks, son William, and daughter Lucy.

Dr. Wicks was born in Port Jervis, NY, in 1920. He received an A.B. Degree in Chemistry from Oberlin College in 1941, where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa his junior year. He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Illinois under the guidance of Prof. Roger Adams in 1944.

Dr. Wicks spent 28 years at Interchemical Corporation, in various technical and management positions. Leadership roles as director of Central Research Laboratories and then vice president for research earned him a reputation as a business development executive who placed emphasis on growth of profits through internal programs and acquisitions. He had extensive experience in technical management, commercial development, acquisition negotiations, and corporate administration. He was also skilled in financial analysis and conceptual and marketing planning.

In 1972, Dr. Wicks brought his broad industrial experience back to the educational process, serving as a professor and chairman of the Department of Polymers and Coatings at North Dakota State University (NDSU) until 1983. With the move to academia, Zeno's natural talent as a teacher and mentor blossomed. His informal teaching style that emphasized students' learning the practical implications of science garnered great respect from a generation of coatings scientists. In 1980, he was honored for his impact and named a Distinguished Professor at NDSU. During this time his reach extended far beyond NDSU. From his classroom experience, he developed a highly successful coatings short course that attracted hundreds of industrial scientists from across the country to spend two weeks of their summer in Fargo, ND. Zeno's stamina and gift for talking was evident as he lectured seven hours a day and led discussion sessions late into the night for 10 days, drilling in the basics of coatings science. He viewed practicality and common sense to be as important as the fundamental science--none of those in attendance will forget his admonition that they shouldn't "park your brains in a bucket by the door when you go to work."

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After retiring from NDSU, Zeno started his third career as a consultant and teacher of short courses on coatings for industrial companies. His reputation as an enthusiastic and practical instructor reached internationally, leading him to be invited to give two-week-long short courses in Mexico, Australia, England, and Taiwan. He believed that the highlight of his long career was being invited three times to lecture and teach in China in the early 1980s. These month-long visits to what was then a very closed society allowed him to have a lasting impact on the nascent Chinese coatings industry and to develop deep friendships that lasted the rest of his life.

His life-long pursuit of a love of science spanned more than 60 years and continued to his last day. More than a third of his 60+ publications were published after age 70. He was the lead author on three editions of Organic Coatings: Science and Technology. The third edition of this widely used textbook/reference book (coauthored with F.N. Jones, S.P. Pappas, and D.A. Wicks) was published earlier this year by Wiley-Interscience. Another five manuscripts that he was actively working on at the time of his death will be published.

Zeno's contributions to coatings science were widely respected in the scientific community. He received the Roy Tess Award in Coatings in 1988 from the PMSE Division of the American Chemical Society. He was the Mattiello Lecturer at the 1986 Annual Meeting of the Federation of Societies for Coatings Technology. He won the FSCT's Roon Award, which recognizes the best technical papers directly related to the protective coatings industry, four times.

In support of Zeno and Susan's long-term dedication to environmental preservation, expressions of sympathy may be made to the Nature Conservancy, 4245 North Fairfax Dr., Suite 100, Arlington, VA 22203-1606.

--The Wicks Family