Robert Joseph Prochaska ’47

Robert Joseph Prochaska ’47, Ph.D., of Carmel Valley, California, died on March 25, 2010. He grew up and attended school in Bogota, New Jersey, and joined the class in the naval V-12 unit. In college he majored in chemistry and participated in basketball, boxing and wrestling. He served as an ensign in the U.S. Navy Reserve from 1944 to 1946 and went on to obtain a master’s and a Ph.D. from Rutgers University in 1951. He worked for General Electric in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, until 1967, when he moved to Celanese Plastics Corp. in Newark, New Jersey, where he rose to become vice president for development. In 1977 he was transferred to Japan and in 1993 retired to Carmel Valley, California. He and his wife enjoyed travel to China, Taiwan and Korea, as well as Japan. While in Pittsfield he served as the coach of a Little League baseball team and as PTA president and was appointed a trustee of the State Colleges of Massachusetts by Governor Volpe. He is survived by his wife and four children.