Ronald Lee Rich, 87, of Bluffton, Ohio, died on Nov. 28,2014, from complications from prostate cancer. He was born on March 29, 1927, in Washington, Ill., to Rufus J. and Lillian (Lantz) Rich.
He is survived by his wife, Elaine, of Bluffton; son Jonathan (Tai) of Union City, Calif.; son Andrew (Sally) of North Manchester, Ind.; daughter Miriam (James Brown) of Blacksburg, Va.; son Mark (Kathy) of Yellow Springs, Ohio; six grandchildren; sister Lois Smucker (Len) of Ashland, Ore.; and sister Mary Blosser of Bluffton.
He graduated from Bluffton College in 1948 and received his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Chicago. Two days after receiving his degree, June 14, 1953, he married Elaine Sommers.
He was a chemistry professor at Bethel College in Kansas from 1953 to 1966. In 1966 he moved to Tokyo, Japan, where he was a professor at International Christian University. With various leaves, he was there until 1979 when he came to Bluffton University. Over the years, he taught or did research at Los Alamos Laboratories, the National Bureau of Standards, and the Universities of Utah, Harvard, Kansas, Kansas State, Stanford, Illinois, Oregon and North Carolina State.
An endowed chemistry scholarship at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis was created in his honor by one of his former students.
He published many articles in chemistry journals and was the author of several books: Periodic Correlations (1965); a series of books for Japanese scientists on writing science papers in English (1976); and Inorganic Reactions in Water, (2007).
He was an amateur astronomer and a member of the Lima Astronomical Society.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 20, at First Mennonite Church, Bluffton.The family will receive friends from 9:30 a.m. until the time of service.
Memorials may be given to Bridge Hospice of Findlay. Online condolences may be expressed at www.chiles-lamanfh.com.
