Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1953-03-12

rs, of Kensington, former Chief OF
the Bureau of Agricultural and
Industrial Chemistry of the us
Department of Agriculture, died
Tuesday in Montgomery County
General Hospital, after a long i'll
ness.
DR.. Skinner, sometimes called
the Father of the Pilot Plant in
government research, was instru-
mental in linking technical re-
search with commercial produc-
ton through the pilot plants estab-
lished in USDA's four Regional
Research Laboratories. He retired
from the Dep artment of Agricul-
ture in 1914 after forty years of
public service.
Funeral services will be Friday
at II am. at Humphreys Funeral
Home, Silver Spring. Burial will be
at Cambridge.
Dr.. Skinner entered the old Bur-
eau of Chemistry as a Food Inspec-
ton Chemist in 1904, and became
Chief of the Water Laboratory in
1912. He was named assistant
chief of the Bureau in 1921 and
served as assistant chief of the
chemical and chronological re-
search unit of the new Bureau of
Chemistry and Soils in 1927.
In 1885 he was appointed assist
ant chief of that Bureau and as
sociate chief in 1889, at which time
the name was changed to the Bur-
eau of Agricultural Chemistry and
Engineering. In November, 1912,
DR.. Skinner became Chief of the
Bureau, succeeding the late DR..
Henry G. Knight. That Bureau
became the Bureau of Agricultural
and Industrial Chemistry in 1913.
DR.. Skinner played an important
part in the establishment of the
four Regional Research Laborator-
les located at Peoria, ILL.,; New Or
leans, La; Philadelphia, Pa; and
Albany, Calf. He was long an en-
thusiastic and influential advocate
for expansion of research leading
to Greater industrial utilization of
farm products and by products, and
for carrying research beyond the
test-tube stage to practical tests
and demonstration of value on a
pilot plant scale. He was also
largely responsible for the estab-
lishment of the Bureaus Naval
Stores Research Station at Olustee,
Fla, and the Citrus Products Lab
oratories in Winterhaven, Fla, and
Weslaco, Texas.
Born in Baltimore, Md, on
March %, 1874, the son of Levin
/ Phillips and Mary Willis Skinner,
William Skinner spent his early
life on the Eastern Shore family
farm near Cambridge, Md. After
attending the public schools of
Dorchester County, he entered
Maryland Agricultural College
(now the University of Maryland)
graduating with a Bachelor of
Science degree in Agricultural
Chemistry in 1895. For four years
he was assistant to the Maryland
State chemist and during this per-
iod studied night courses at Cor
coran Scientific School of Column
bian University (now George
Washington University, receiving
the Master of Science degree in
1897. He later studied at the
Universities of Arizona and Calf
ornia, and at George Washington
University. In 1917 he was award
ed the honorary degree, Doctor of
Science, by the University of Mary
land in recognition of his achieve
ment in chemistry.
He was married in 1899 to Miss
Georgia Mitchell of Washington,
DC, who survives.
Early in his career, DR.. Skinner
served for five years as assistant
and associate chemist at the Uni
versity of Arizona Agricultural
Experiment Station, and was for
six months an assistant chemist in
the Arizona School of Mines. While
at the University of Arizona, he