John Paul Hogan

Mr. John “Paul” Hogan Mr. John Paul Hogan, 92, of Bartlesville, died Sunday, February 19, 2012 at the Comfort Care Home in Wichita, Kansas. Cause of death was Alzheimer’s disease. Funeral services for Mr. Hogan will be held at 2 P.M. Friday, February 24, 2012 at the First Baptist Church with Rev. Terry Long officiating. Interment will be in the Memorial Park Cemetery directed by the Stumpff Funeral Home & Crematory. Mr. Hogan was born at Lowes, Kentucky on August 7, 1919 to Charles Franklin and Alma (Wyman) Hogan. He grew up on a farm outside Lowes, Kentucky and graduated from high school there. He attended Murray State Teachers College (now Murray State University) at Murray, Kentucky where he earned a BS in chemistry and physics. He taught chemistry and physics at the Mayfield High School in Mayfield, Kentucky in 1942 and 1943. On March 23, 1943 he was married to Glenda Mozelle Moultrie at Cape Girardeau, Missouri. They made their home at Stillwater, Oklahoma where he taught physics to military preflight students at Oklahoma A & M in 1943 and 1944. Mr. Hogan was employed with Phillips Petroleum Company in Bartlesville in 1944 as a research chemist until his retirement in 1985. A catalyst specialist, he made many significant contributions and discoveries while employed with Phillips and had his name on 52 patents. He and co-worker Robert Banks discovered crystalline polypropylene and a breakthrough process for producing high-density polyethylene. The results of their achievement revolutionized the materials industry and launched Phillips’ entry into the plastics industry under the trademark Marlex. Following his retirement in 1985 he continued as an independent consultant until 1993. Mr. Hogan was honored with many awards over the years including the 1969 award for the Most Creative Invention from the American Chemical Society, the Honorary Doctor of Science at Murray State University in 1972, and the Pioneer Chemist Award from the American Institute of Chemists also in 1972, as well as the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Murray State University in the same year. He received a lifetime appointment as a Kentucky Colonel from the Governor of Kentucky and in 1976 was presented the Inventor of the Year Award by the Oklahoma Bar Association. In 1981 he was honored with the Man of the Year Award for outstanding achievement in polymeric materials by the Society of Plastics Engineers and in 1987 received the Perkin Medal Award by the Society of Chemical Industry. In 1989 he was given the Heroes of Chemistry Award by the American Chemical Society. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2001 and into the Oklahoma Inventors Hall of Fame at its inaugural in 2002. Mr. Hogan, who once remarked that “Perhaps what I have done as a chemist is important, but I don’t think it’s nearly as important as what I might do as a Christian," was a longtime member of the First Baptist Church where he had served as a Deacon, taught Sunday School, helped start a bus ministry and was a Boy Scout Leader. An avid fisherman and hunter, he also enjoyed gardening and woodworking. He belonged to the Green Country Flyfishers and was a charter member of the Bartlesville Chess Club. Mr. Hogan is survived by two daughters, Fay Hogan Sweney and husband Wayne of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and Susan Hogan Lair and husband Randy of Wichita, Kansas, daughter-in-law, Linda Hogan of Norman, Oklahoma, four grandchildren, Rob Sweney, Sarah Lair, Kevin Hogan and wife Kendel and Lori Hogan Willis and husband Rob and one great grandchild, Cade Willis. Mr. Hogan was preceded in death by his parents, brothers Herman Hogan and James Hogan, sister Helen Neufeld, son Kenneth Byron Hogan in 1999, grandson Matthew Lair in 1980 and his wife Glenda Mozelle Hogan on September 23, 2007. A memorial fund has been established and those who wish may send their contributions to the First Baptist Church, P.O. Box 1080, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, 74005. PDF Printable Version

John Paul Hogan

August 7, 1919 - February 19, 2012