Chemist / Military / Medical Technologist / Musician and Music Educator – Earlham Early 1960s

Birth: September 2, 1938 in Richmond, Indiana

Died: March 15, 2024 (buried in the St. Andrew’s Catholic Cemetery with Military Honors in Richmond, Indiana) 

Earlham Association: Perkins spent two years at Earlham in the 1960s before enlisting in the Army.

Education: Perkins went to Earlham for two years before earning a B.S. in chemistry at the University of Rochester in 1968, an M.S. in Organic Chemistry at Rochester Institute of Technology in 1972, and a B.M. in music at the University of California, Irvine.

Army Career and as Medical Technologist:  Two years after enrolling at Earlham, Perkins entered the U.S. Army, where he was trained as a laboratory medical technologist. Afterwards, he worked at Reid Memorial Hospital in Richmond, Indiana, in the same role.

Career as a Chemist and Researcher: Perkins began his research career immediately after his time at Reid Memorial Hospital at Eastman Kodak Co. in Rochester, while he worked towards his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Chemistry and Organic Chemistry at the University of Rochester and Rochester Institute of Technology, respectively. He spent 13 years at Kodak. After Kodak, he joined Celanese Chemical Co. (Corpus Christi, Texas) in 1978 as a senior research scientist, working on radiation curing product development and operations management.

Career as Musician and Music Educator: Perkins was a lifelong musician, but began to focus on music when he retired. He was a trumpeter at Richmond High School’s band and orchestra, where he first considered a music career. When he lived in South Orange, N.J., near the end of his career, he played for its symphonic organizations. He also later earned a Bachelors of Music at U.C., Irvine, so that he could teach high school music. Finally, he founded the Perkins Music Center in Irvine, California with his wife, Bondee.

Accomplishments: Throughout his career, Perkins published numerous papers on chemistry in scientific journals and was awarded many patents.