Arthur I. Mendolia

Arthur Mendolia begins the interview with a discussion of his family and childhood. After graduating from high school in Youngstown, Ohio, Mendolia entered Case Western Reserve University in 1934, majoring in chemical engineering. Financing education during the Depression was difficult, and Mendolia worked at Youngstown Steel Door Company to make money. He received his B.S. in 1941 and began to work at DuPont as a research engineer. Mendolia spent thirteen years in DuPont's adiponitrile plant in Niagara Falls, occasionally commuting to a plant Charleston, West Virginia. In 1954, Mendolia was named Assistant Director of Research of DuPont's Electrochemicals Department, a position he held for two years before moving into sales as the Assistant General Manager. In 1966, Mendolia became the Assistant General Manager of the Explosives Department. There, he sold DuPont's chemical process for making acrylonitrile to Amoco Chemical Company. DuPont recognized Mendolia's exemplary management skills and promoted him to Vice President of Explosives in 1970. In 1972, Mendolia met Ralph Landau while negotiating a purchase of ethylene glycol for DuPont. Later that year, DuPont recommended Mendolia for a position in the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). There, Mendolia learned more about management, organization, finances, and worked personally with President Gerald Ford. After two years with the DOD, Mendolia became president of Ralph Landau's company, Halcon International. Later, he became Chairman of Oxirane, a Halcon and Arco joint venture. With Oxirane, Mendolia set up branch offices in Eton, England, and Houston, Texas, and set up Oxirane's R&D department. He worked to establish uniformity and standards within the company. In 1981, Mendolia and Cy Baldwin bought their own chemical company, CasChem, Inc., a castor oil and polyurethane production company. Then Baldwin and Mendolia purchased Cosan, a biocide company, in 1985. In 1987, these companies officially had their names changed to Cambrex Corporation. Mendolia concludes the interview with a discussion of purchasing chemical companies, management issues, his family, and hobbies.

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company

1941 - 1954 Research Engineer, Electrochemicals Department

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company

1954 - 1956 Assistant Director of Research, Electrochemicals Department

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company

1956 - 1958 Assistant Director of Sales, Electrochemicals Department

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company

1958 - 1966 Assistant General Manager, Electrochemicals Department

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company

1966 - 1970 Assistant General Manager, Explosives Department

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company

1970 - 1973 Vice President and General Manager, Explosives Department

U.S. Government

1973 - 1975 Assistant Secretary of Defense for Installation and Logistics

Halcon International

1975 - 1978 President

Oxirane International

1978 - 1980 Chairman

CasChem, Inc. (later, Cambrex Corporation)

1981 - 1987 Cofounder, Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Executive Committee

CasChem, Inc. (later, Cambrex Corporation)

1987 - 1995 Director of the Board, Cambrex Corporation

James J. Bohning

James J. Bohning is professor emeritus of chemistry at Wilkes University, where he was a faculty member from 1959 to 1990. He served there as chemistry department chair from 1970 to 1986 and environmental science department chair from 1987 to 1990. Bohning was chair of the American Chemical Society’s Division of the History of Chemistry in 1986; he received the division’s Outstanding Paper Award in 1989 and has presented more than forty papers at national meetings of the society. Bohning was on the advisory committee of the society’s National Historic Chemical Landmarks Program from its inception in 1992 through 2001 and is currently a consultant to the committee. He developed the oral history program of the Chemical Heritage Foundation, and he was the foundation’s director of oral history from 1990 to 1995. From 1995 to 1998, Bohning was a science writer for the News Service group of the American Chemical Society. He is currently a visiting research scientist and CESAR Fellow at Lehigh University. In May 2005, he received the Joseph Priestley Service Award from the Susquehanna Valley Section of the American Chemical Society.