Deceased September 27, 2023
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IN MEMORY
Ad came to the College from Newton High School. As an undergraduate, he ran cross-country and lettered on the track team. He was a member of Kappa Theta and a chemistry major. Upon graduation, Ad went to Harvard, earning a Ph.D. in 1959.
Chemistry was Ad’s life work. After Harvard, he taught at Grinnell College for two years and then spent a year at the Argonne National Laboratory doing research. There he met the chair of the chemistry department at Cornell College in Iowa. That led Ad to accept a teaching position at Cornell.
In his 50 years at Cornell, Ad taught organic chemistry, including lab courses at introductory and advanced levels. He wrote many articles for chemistry publications. His lab manual for experiments in organic chemistry went through six editions. Ad taught summer school at several institutions, including Dartmouth, Harvard and Wisconsin.
Ad had interests in music, reading, gardening and travel. At age 50, he taught himself how to play the cello. In 2000, Ad participated, as part of Cornell’s team, in a popular bike ride where thousands of participants rode from one end of Iowa to the other. Ad is also known to have played touch football with students on the front lawn of the chemistry building.
In the summer of 1956, Ad did research at Phillips Petroleum’s facility in Bartlesville, Okla. There he met Janet Ruth Meade, who was about to begin her first year at Smith College. A romance developed that summer, and they were married in 1958. In spite of living in Iowa, the Aults were regulars at our class Reunions from the 25th to the 60th. They also became part of a group of ’55ers nicknamed “The Fossils” who gathered on Cape Cod just after Labor Day for a lobster boil and reminiscing.
Rob Sowersby ’55