James E. Van Verth, chemistry professor, flutist

Jan. 26, 1928 Aug. 19, 2014

James E. Van Verth, professor emeritus of organic chemistry at Canisius College and a lifelong flutist and former president of the Niagara Frontier Flute Association, died Aug. 19, in the Schofield Residence in Kenmore after a long illness. He was 86.

Dr. Van Verth taught scores of aspiring physicians, dentists and nurses during his 37 years on the Canisius College chemistry faculty.

Born and raised in Huntington, W.Va., he served in the Army from 1945 to 1947, playing flute in the noted 392nd Army Band at Fort Lee, Va., before enrolling at Xavier University in Cincinnati, where he was named winner of the Dorst Chemistry Award and received a bachelors degree magna cum laude in 1950.

He earned his masters degree from the University of Detroit in 1952, and his Ph.D. from Indiana University in 1957. His doctoral dissertation was titled The Synthesis of Some Heterocyclic Thiosemicarbazones as Potential Antiviral Agents.

Before joining the Canisius College faculty in 1963, Dr. Van Verth worked as a research chemist at the Monsanto Chemical Company in Nitro, W.Va., and as a postdoctoral assistant at Yale University.

During his long tenure teaching organic chemistry at Canisius, he also taught a course, The Ascent of Man, based on the work of science historian Jacob Bronowski.

Interested early on in educational technology, he developed computer and multimedia instruction facilities for Canisius chemistry department, and introduced computer-aided instruction to its freshman and sophomore laboratories.

Dr. Van Verth, of Kenmore, also served as a Visiting Scientist at Yale University, the University at Buffalo and the University of Rochester, the last on a Dana Foundation Grant. He retired from teaching in 2000.

He was the co-holder of several U.S. patents in his field, and the author of articles in the Canadian Journal of Chemistry, Journal of Organic Chemistry and Journal of the American Chemical Society.

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James E. Van Verth, chemistry professor, flutist