USA: Battery industry giant dies

Advanced Battery Technology, Nov 2000

The battery industry lost one of its finest when Dr. Robert A. Powers of Westlake, Ohio, died on October 10, five weeks after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He would have been 77 on November 2.

Born in 1923 in Perryton, Texas, 100 miles north of Amarillo, he helped his mother homestead a section of land in New Mexico from age 9 to 12. He went on to serve three years in the Army Air Corps during World War II, then returned to Texas to earn B.S., M.S., and Ph.D degrees in chemistry from the University of Texas.

On completing his doctorate in 1951 he joined Union Carbide (then called National Carbon Company) in Cleveland, Ohio, as a research chemist and spent the next 35 years there. He moved up to be director of research of the Consumer Products Division (1962-75) and, until his retirement in 1986, director of technology of the Battery Division, now the Eveready Battery Company.

Early in his career Bob began research on antifreeze and dry cells with emphasis on corrosion. This led to international recognition as an expert in the science of corrosion, especially as it relates to zinc and other battery electrode materials. He later was responsible for all battery, fuel cell, and automotive product research, and directed the work leading to the lithium-thionyl chloride and other lithium battery systems. In his last position, he directed R&D for primary and secondary batteries, and the design and construction of the 200,000 square foot Westlake Battery Technology Laboratory. He held 13 U.S. patents.

After retiring, he became executive director of the Edison Sensor Technology Center at Case Western Reserve University and was a consultant on battery and sensor technology. He was perhaps best known to ABT readers for his annual report analyzing battery industry developments and a bi-annual report on lithium and lithium-ion batteries, the most recent one delayed due to his illness..

The accompanying photo of Bob and his wife Annie appeared in the August ABT coverage of the IMLB meeting in Como, Italy, in June. Shortly thereafter he took her, their three children (Paula Tchirkow of Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania; Nancy Powers of Los Angeles; and Robert Powers of Pasadena, California), and three grandchildren on an Alaskan cruise. An avid Lake Erie sailor himself, he let somebody else do the steering that time.

Memorial contributions can be made to the American Diabetes Association.