Walter Gloor '29

The Walter Tell Gloor and Hedwig Walther Scholarship Fund was established in 1997 through contributions made by Walter Gloor ‘29 in honor of his parents, who made it possible for Walter and his brother, Wilber, to attend Case. Mr. Gloor received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the Case School of Applied Science in 1929 and a second degree in chemical engineering in 1934, also from Case. He was a member of the America Chemical Society, Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi, and a former trustee of the Wilminton Society of Friends School. He began his 40 year career with Hercules Powder Corp. in Kenvil, New Jersey and was later transferred to Wilminton where he worked as a manager of plastics technology in the polymers department. He was instrumental in perfecting the proximity fuse used in explosives during WWII and was later appointed to serve as part of a team of chemical experts to survey the German chemical industry. He received 51 patents while assigned to Hercules. Upon his retirement in 1972, the Hercules marketing department awarded him a silver platter engraved “Grandfather of Plastics.” Thereafter, he continued to abstract articles of interest to chemical clients as well as present papers at American Chemical Society meetings about homopolymers.