Frank Henry Verhoek, 1909-2010

VERHOEK Frank Henry Verhoek, age 101, (longtime resident of Worthington), passed away peacefully in Granville, Ohio, Tuesday evening, September 7, 2010. He graduated from Harvard University, S.B. cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa in 1929. He earned an M.S. (1930) and the Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin (1933) and the D.Phil (1935) at Trinity College, Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar (1933-1936). There also he was a member of the Oxford Bach Choir. After a year of postdoctoral study at the University of Copenhagen, he began a long career as professor in the Department of Chemistry at The Ohio State University, becoming Emeritus Professor of Chemistry in 1977. During that period he also continued postdoctoral study at Stanford University, and held sabbatical and consulting positions at the General Electric Company, Argonne National Laboratory, Olin-Mathieson Chemical Corporation, Liberty Mirror Division of Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Company, U.S. Naval Weapons Center, China Lake, California, University of Florida, and was a lecturer with the Chemical Bond Approach Project for the National Science Foundation from 1959-1968. Among other publications and presentations, he is co-author of several textbooks and laboratory manuals, in multiple editions, on general chemistry. He enjoyed photography, travel and horticulture. He was Past President and Lifetime Member of the Worthington Garden Club. He was preceded in death in 1998 by his wife of 58 years, Cordula Thurow Verhoek. Dr. Verhoek is survived by his daughters and sons-in-law, Susan and Stephen Williams of Palmyra, Pennsylvania, Helen and Larry Yarbrough of Evanston, Illinois, Louise and Richard Shiels of Granville, Ohio; two granddaughters, Gwendolyn Yarbrough Nabel and Emily Williams Tilley; great-grandson, Elisha Tilley; great- granddaughter; nieces and nephews and their families. Calling hours will be held 6-8 p.m. Thursday, September 9, at RUTHERFORD-CORBIN FUNERAL HOME, 515 High Street, Worthington. The service will be held 10:30 a.m. Friday, September 10, 2010 at St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 67 North Fifth Street, Newark, Ohio 43055. Interment to follow at Walnut Grove Cemetery, Worthington, at 1 p.m. Memorial contributions may be made to the Department of Chemistry (in the name of Dr. Frank Verhoek) at The Ohio State University, or to Worthington Parks Improvement Fund, c/o Jason Nicodemus, 6550 North High Street, Worthington, OH 43085.