Obituary of David Buchanan Fordyce

David Buchanan Fordycewas born in Santa Monica, California in 1924. He was the youngest of two brothers. His older brother Reid was 10 year older. His father William and mother Ann were Scottish immigrants who met in Winnipeg, ManitobaCanada. They had migrated to California to invest in and operate a small electric motor company. William George Fordyce or WGF as he was refereed to, was a entrepreneur and skill mechanic. Ann was a kind and loving mother from a family of actors and musicians. WGF was quite sussful in his business endeavors and served on various business organizations in the Culver City and Santa Monica area. There were many articles written about WGF and his partner. Eventually WGF had enough capital to start his own car franchise and the family moved to VancouverBC to fulfill a dream. Dave and Reid were very close brothers and in Vancouver. Reid stressed the importance of education on Dave. Both brothers were hard workers in school and both graduated early and went to University of British Columbia. Dave worked hard but had time to make many friends in Vancouver including Maury and Stuart Soward. While attending UBC Dave met Beverley Weaver and they were married in 1947. The importance of family was a critical premise that guided Dave through out his life. His marriage and lifetime commitment to Beverley was the foundation to all of his life decisions. Dave graduated in Chemical Engineering from UBC, and was pted as a candidate for a PhD at the University of Wisconsin. Dave and Beverley moved to Madison Wisconsin where Dave worked hard on his dissertation. It was during this research that he became fascinated with water soluble polymers. He received his PhD in 1950 and started working for Rohm and Haas chemical company the same year. So Dave and Bev moved to Philadelphia. Dave started at Rohm and Haas in Lab 26 working for George Brown in an area researched in graduate school, water soluble polymers. He quickly developed a product T -71 used in latex paints to this day. Dr. Brown and Dave became friends he remarked Dave is one of the few people I could completely trust. In 1956 Dr. George Brown recommended Dave to head up a new Lab for the development surfactants-detergents, and emulsifiers. This was a lab that is close to my fathers heart, for this was his first time being a lab head.During the 1950s Dave and Bev had 3 children. Stuart 1951, Kenneth 1953, and Barbara 1958. They all lived happily in Moorestown, New Jersey. Many Rohm and Haas co-workers also lived in the neighborhood. There were many family friendly dinner parties and barbeques and the children made quick friends with each other. Although there was mountains of work for Rohm and Haas, Dave and Bev made time for family field trips and get-togethers all over the East coast. Dave had unusual hand writing sometimes referred to as chicken scratch. Some attributed his handwriting as some kind of Canadian short hand. But as we all know, it was his own unique way of sending out orders. According to many co-workers and friends Dave had a lot of long jokes with a short punch line. One that is mentioned over and over again is whats the difference between a buffalo and a bison.