Good Chemistry
Alumni Gift Establishes Chair in Sciences

A gift of $3 million was made to Whittier College by married alumni Chester and Olive McCloskey, Class of 1940 and 1944, respectively, to establish an endowed professorship in the College's chemistry department. The Chester and Olive McCloskey Chair in Chemistry is intended for a faculty member who embodies inspirational and dedicated teaching in the sciences.

The McCloskeys called the gift "a long time in the making," referring to their more than seven-decade history with Whittier College, and their longstanding desire to make what they perceived as a "transformational" gift—specifically to the chemistry program.

After earning multiple degrees in the sciences from Whittier and the University of Iowa, and a subsequent stint teaching at Caltech, Chet McCloskey founded chemical manufacturing company Norac, Inc. in 1953, establishing headquarters in nearby Azusa. Over the next several years, McCloskey led research and development efforts to significantly improve targeted chemical manufacturing processes related to ketone peroxides; as a result, he holds several patents, and his company is the leading supplier for ketone peroxides in North America. In the 1960s, McCloskey expanded the business, acquiring a metallic stearate manufacturing company, and creating subsidiary Norac Pharma, which focuses on the development of new chemistry technology for potential prescription drug applications. Today, Norac, Inc. has plants in California, Arkansas, and Sweden.

Herself a "legacy" alumna—her mother graduated from Whittier in 1912—Olive (Jordan) McCloskey earned her bachelor's degree in home economics, and has actively been involved in the College's alumni organizations throughout the last 60 years.

The McCloskeys have expressed their hope that this gift may inspire others to make similar, significant investment into the academic programs at Whittier College, ensuring a continuation of the quality experience that both of them found here as undergraduates.

The announcement was made during a fall alumni gathering—to which "Chet" McCloskey proudly wore his 1940s Whittier College letterman sweater.