I found out today that Robert Massie, the former president
of Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), passed away at age 66. I discovered this from Bill Town’s posting on
Facebook. Bob was the first businessman
to lead this prestigious chemistry publisher affiliated with the American
Chemical Society (ACS) as his predecessors were chemists. CAS certainly had grown by leaps and bounds
during Bob’s tenure as more publications became electronic. Scifinder, a discover application to search the
CAS database, is my favorite resource in the NJIT library. I have been quite satisfied with the service
that I received from the people at CAS through my career as chemical
information professional. This is a
reflection of Bob’s leadership.
Every year Bob would speak to the members of the American
Chemical Society Division of Chemical Information (CINF) to advise them of
enhancements to CAS products. He always
came to the social functions to mingle with his customers. It must have been in the late 1990s when he
approached me and we talked very briefly that he was born in Queens, but did
not stay there very long. Our chat was brief
as he wanted to meet as many people as he could in a short period of time.
My condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues.
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