Obituary of John J. Eisch

John "Jack" Joseph Eisch, PhD, 88, of Vestal, died suddenly at home Saturday afternoon, June 29, 2019 of cardiac arrest. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Joan (Scheuerell) Eisch, three daughters - Karla Eisch (Vestal, NY), Paula Cichon (Loudonville, NY; husband Doug), Amelia Eisch PhD (Philadelphia, PA; husband Shae Padrick, PhD) - and one son, Joseph Eisch (Silver Spring, MD; wife Robin) - two grandchildren - Taylor Anne Cichon and Zachary Eisch Padrick - and many nieces and nephews. He is predeceased by his parents, Frank and Gladys (Riordan) Eisch, his daughter, Margy, his sisters; Beverly Hanley and June Hinich, and brother-in-law, David Hanley. A Native of Milwaukee Wisconsin, John attended Catholic Parochial School and won a scholarship to St. John's Catholic High School, graduating as Salutatorian. He received a BS from Marquette University, Summa Cum Laude in 1952 and a PhD from Iowa State University in Chemistry in 1956. He won a Union Carbide Post Doctoral Fellowship to work with Karl Ziegler at the Max Planck Institution in Mulheim, Germany in 1956, a research fellow at European Research Associates in Brussels in 1957. He started his faculty career at St. Louis University, then University of Michigan and Full Professor at Catholic University. Professor Eisch came to SUNY Binghamton in 1972 as Chairman of the Chemistry Department, became Distinguished Professor at Binghamton University in 1983. He had obtained over 3 million in research funding during his 40 year career and graduated 50 PhD Students and many post doctorial and masters students. He found great excitement in discovering new things in his research which were published in 400 scientific articles. He served as expert witness in several patent litigations. He was a demanding teacher but had great pride in students that performed well. In his personal life, Jack was extremely sharp-witted and humorous much to the relief of his close family members. He enjoyed reading, languages, particularly German, and earlier in life walking and travel. In his retirement at age 83, he remained an active supporter of the Chemistry Department at Binghamton University, and was so pleased to see it thrive under current leadership. In recent years he followed the US political scene closely, which caused him great distress, but his two dogs, Ursi and Schatzi were excellent antidotes. Memorial tribute can be made to the John Eisch lectureship at Binghamton University Foundation, PO Box 6005, Binghamton, NY 13902. The family will receive friends at the Coleman & Daniels Funeral Home, 765 Main St. Vestal on Tuesday, July 2, from 4 to 6 p.m. and on Wednesday July 3, at 9 a.m. at Our Lady of Sorrows Church, 801 Main St. Vestal, followed by a Funeral Mass at 10 a.m. at the Church. Burial will be in Wisconsin at a later date.