Malcolm Kenney | Photo courtesy of Cornerstone Family Office
Malcolm Kenney, PhD, had a remarkable 61-year tenure at what’s now Case Western Reserve University as a chemistry researcher, educator and mentor.
He made breakthrough discoveries and changed lives as an exuberant teacher who wove biography and history into his lessons on inorganic chemistry.
“It was his joy and pure academic interest and desire to transfer knowledge to the next couple of generations that crystalized teaching as important to me,” said Benjamin Sturtz, PhD (GRS ’17, chemistry), an instructor in the Department of Chemistry and the last of Kenney’s 48 doctoral candidates.
Kenney, who died in 2022, passed on his love of education in another extraordinary way. He designated a $3 million gift in his estate to establish an endowed professorship at the College of Arts and Sciences. Details will be announced later.
During his career, Kenney, the Hinman B. Hurlbut Professor of Chemistry, received campus awards for teaching, earned 30 patents and published 200 papers.
One key area of focus involved development of fluorescent compounds for use in photodynamic therapy as a non-invasive treatment to destroy cancerous tumors, said John D. Protasiewicz, PhD, the Hurlbut Professor of Chemistry.
Kenney also worked with related pigment molecules that have been used to improve products from dyes to electronics. “He did a lot of the early pioneering work in terms of seeing what we could really do with [the molecules] beyond using them as simple pigments,” Sturtz said.
When Sturtz became a doctoral student, he said, Kenney was in his mid-80s and had planned to teach for one more year. “He accepted me as another five-year commitment to research,” said Sturtz, who earned his doctorate in 2017, just before Kenney retired.
“He had this very strong and passionate desire to answer questions,” said Sturtz, who now works with his own students on these questions. “We are carrying on work that Malcolm effectively considered work undone.” And soon Kenney’s gift will make it possible for another faculty member to work with students and pursue driving questions.