Rothrock, John William: 10/07/2006

John William Rothrock, 86, of West Chester, PA and Watchung, NJ, died Saturday after a long illness. Born in the family farmhouse in 1920 in Bangor, PA, Mr. Rothrock was the fourth of five sons of John R. and Clara May (Leh) Rothrock. He attended Bangor High School and was the first in his family to go on to college, earning a B.S. in Chemistry from Penn State in 1941.

 

During World War II, Mr. Rothrock served as an aerial navigator in the U.S. Army Air Corps; he was discharged in 1946 as a 2nd Lieutenant. After the war, while still stationed at Chanute Field in Rantoul, Illinois, he met Goldie “Liz” Swango. They married in August of 1946. Shortly thereafter, he entered the University of Illinois as a graduate student in biochemistry.

 

Upon completing his Ph.D. in 1949, Mr. Rothrock accepted a position as a research chemist at Merck & Co. and relocated to New Jersey. Over the course of the next 37 years, his research would help shape some of the firm’s most important drugs, including Mevacor and Vasotec. He retired in 1986, having spent his entire career with Merck.

 

Mr. Rothrock served on the school board of Watchung, NJ, during the 1970s and was a deacon at Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church in Plainfield. He was an active member of the Green Mountain Club and the Appalachian Mountain Club. He loved hiking and photography and continued hiking in locations such as the Grand Canyon and the Swiss Alps into his 70s. He and his wife traveled throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, as well as Australia and New Zealand. He was interested in genealogy and spent 12 years researching the Rothrock family back to its arrival at the port of Philadelphia in 1733 and even further to its roots in the Rhine River Valley in Germany.

 

He is survived by Liz Rothrock, his wife of 60 years; two brothers, Harold of Liberty, PA, and Paul of Williamsport, PA; his daughters Janet Rothrock of Concord, MA, and Susan Mitchell of West Chester, PA; and by four grandchildren, Kathleen and Elizabeth of Concord, MA, and Margaretta and Ian of West Chester, PA. Visitation begins at 10 am on Thursday, October 12, at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Frazer, PA; a funeral service and reception follow at 11 am. Burial will be private. 

 

In lieu of flowers, please make donations in Mr. Rothrock’s name to the Alzheimer’s Association, Delaware Valley Chapter, 100 N. 17th Street, 2nd Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19103. 

 

Arrangements by DellaVecchia, Reilly, Smith & Boyd Funeral Home, Inc. West Chester 610-696-1181