Obituaries

George H. Morrison, professor emeritus of chemistry and chemical biology and an internationally noted authority on trace-element analysis and materials characterization, died June 11 in Delray Beach, Fla. A member of the Cornell faculty since 1961, he was 82 years of age.

After graduating from Brooklyn College in 1942, Morrison was drafted into the U.S. Army and was assigned to a Princeton University laboratory to work on the chemical purification of uranium for the Manhattan Project. He subsequently earned his Ph.D. in analytical chemistry at Princeton, then served for 10 years as the head of GTE Laboratories' inorganic and analytical chemistry division, where his methods for characterizing semiconductor materials advanced the development of solid state devices.

Together with James Cosgrove, Morrison developed the nondestructive technique of instrumental neutron activation analysis. His 1957 book, Solvent Extraction in Analytical Chemistry, co-authored with Henry Freiser, was translated into more than a dozen languages and became the primary reference in the field for decades. He served as editor of the journal Analytical Chemistry from 1980 to 1990. The author or co-author of more than 400 publications and recipient of numerous honors, Morrison was said to be most proud of his 1971 American Chemical Society Award in Analytical Chemistry for performing the most complete and detailed analysis of the Apollo lunar samples.

At Cornell, Morrison became the director of the Materials Science Center Analytical Facility, the base for his pioneering research in trace analysis. Later in his research career, he turned his efforts toward biomedicine, and his analytical innovations led to new concepts in the cell biology of calcium, as well as isotopically labeled therapeutic anticancer agents. After becoming an emeritus faculty member in 1992, he continued to maintain an active research group in the department.

Calling Morrison a scholar and a mentor, one departmental colleague, Hector Abruna, said: "George trained generations of analytical chemists who went on to successful careers in academia, industrial and government labs. He was one of a very select group of analytical chemists who made important contributions to both classical wet chemical methods of analysis and modern instrumental methods. To his students and research group members, he was unfailingly loyal and generous with his time. His dignity, good humor and wise counsel on matters beyond the world of ions and molecules will be deeply missed."

Dorothy Reddington, director of development for Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research (BTI), died Aug. 9 of breast cancer at the Hospicare Residence in Ithaca. She was 57 years of age.

She had worked as a public affairs officer in Cornell's Division of Alumni Affairs and Development for more than 20 years in various units of the university, including the Johnson Museum and Cornell Plantations. She is survived by her son, William.

A memorial service will be held in Sage Chapel on Saturday, Aug. 28, at 12:30 p.m., with a reception to follow in the Terrace Restaurant of the Statler Hotel. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Hospicare Residence, 172 King Road, or to the Tompkins County Public Library, 101 Green St., Ithaca.