Robert Ehrenfeld, 86, a chemist who worked on the Manhattan Project, and president and founder of Halocarbon Products Corporation, died on Oct. 13 at his home in New York of an apparent heart attack.
He was born at home on upper Broadway in New York City, to Dora (Perlman) Ehrenfeld and Abraham Ehrenfeld.
Dr. Ehrenfeld earned both a BA in chemistry from Cornell University in 1942 and a PhD in 1948. As a graduate student he worked on the secretive Manhattan Project, which created the first atomic bomb. In 1950, he and some colleagues founded Halocarbon based on research they had done at Cornell. Among Halocarbon’s notable accomplishments are pioneering the production of the first non-ozone depleting refrigerant and supplying gyroscope fluids to the aerospace industry, including the fluid used in the Apollo space missions and Hubble Space Telescope.
In 1959, Dr. Ehrenfeld came before a Department of Defense hearing to obtain a security clearance to sell his products. He was challenged due to his early union affiliations and his admiration of Dr. Linus Pauling, who had won a Nobel Prize in chemistry and shared Dr. Ehrenfeld’s political views. Pauling later won the Nobel Peace Prize as well. Dr. Ehrenfeld took the opportunity of the hearings to strongly defend personal freedoms, which he thought were a key source of strength for our country.
As a boy, he spent his summers at Camp Orinsekwa near Albany, N.Y., a camp his parents had purchased to get away from the city. He learned how to sail there, a passion he continued through much of his life. He was thrilled when he purchased his first sailboat, but promptly sank it in the harbor at Friendship. It was subsequently converted to a sandbox for his daughters. More recently he was a competitive racing member of the Cabadetis Boat Club of Round Pond, and often didn’t finish last in his 28-foot day-sailer, Bob’s Away II.
An avid tennis player who was on the court one week before he died, Dr. Ehrenfeld enjoyed sharing his tennis court with his community of tennis enthusiasts and playing inside at the CLC YMCA when the weather was bad. He also had a long-time interest in flying and until recently, piloted his own plane, which he used to ferry between his home in New York City and his summer house in Round Pond, overlooking Muscongus Harbor.
Dr. Ehrenfeld was devoted to New York City and the New York Times. Every morning he had to have his daily dose even if he was in Maine, which meant driving for miles to find the paper. On this topic the usually amiable and accommodating man was immovable. “Keep driving until you find one” was a typical instruction.
He had a sly sense of humor and enjoyed making a joke. Earlier this year when he was asked if he could keep a secret about a surprise party, he replied, “I worked on the Manhattan Project, didn’t I?”
Dr. Ehrenfeld and his wife of 52 years, Elizabeth (Betta) MacCarthy Ehrenfeld, raised three daughters. He was pleased that they followed him into the scientific fields of biology, geology and chemistry. The three: Elizabeth Ehrenfeld of Falmouth, Martha Ehrenfeld of San Francisco, Cal., and Emily Ehrenfeld of Cambridge, Mass. will carry on their father’s business.
Dr. Ehrenfeld also had two grandchildren, Grace and Lila Valaskovic, daughters of Emily Ehrenfeld and Gary Valaskovic.
His sister, Alice Ehrenfeld Weil, the first American woman to hold the rank of Assistant Secretary General at the United Nations, died in 1996.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the CLC YMCA, P.O. Box 787, Damariscotta, ME 04543.
