Frank P Popoff

Frank Popoff, who as chief executive and chairman tried to make Dow Chemical more conciliatory toward regulators and environmentalists in the late 1980s and ’90s, and who prodded the chemical industry to adopt safer practices, died on Feb. 25 at his home in Midland, Mich., where Dow is based. He was 88. Popoff was named Dow’s president and chief executive in 1987 succeeding Paul F. Oreffice as chief executive. The company was best known then for manufacturing chemicals, including chlorine, as well as for using chemicals in making plastics, pharmaceuticals and supermarket goods like Saran Wrap, Fantastik cleaning liquid and Ziploc bags. Frank Popoff, whose given name was Pencho, was born on Oct. 27, 1935, in Sofia, Bulgaria. He emigrated to the United States with his parents and sister in 1939, and they settled in Terre Haute, Ind., where his parents ran a dry-cleaning business. Popoff studied chemistry at Indiana University, where he earned bachelor’s and master of business administration degrees in the same year, 1959. He joined Dow in 1959 and stayed with the company for 41 years. Popoff stepped down as chief executive in 1995 and as chairman in 2000. He later taught at Indiana University for a time and served on corporate boards. He is survived by his wife, Jean (Urse) Popoff, whom he met in college and married in 1958; three sons, John, Thomas and Steven; and four grandchildren.