Vincent L Gregory Jr

Vincent L. Gregory Jr., 95, the retired president and CEO of the former Rohm & Haas Co., died Monday, June 3, of a chronic respiratory illness at his home in Hampshire, England. In 2017, he moved to the United Kingdom to be near family, said his granddaughter Melanie Gregory-Pulling. Before that, he lived in Center City. Mr. Gregory served as head of Rohm & Haas from 1970 until retiring in 1988. The chemical company, which was once headquartered in Philadelphia, merged with Dow Chemical in 2009. Mr. Gregory was born in Oil City, Venango County, during the Great Depression. He was one of nine children. After graduating from high school, he was granted a scholarship to study economics at Princeton University and enrolled there in 1940. A year later, he postponed his studies to join the Army Air Force and was a fighter pilot in Europe during World War II, according to a biography on file with the Science History Institute sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts. He served until 1945. In 1946, he married Marjorie Gladys Scott, whom he met in England. The couple moved to the United States so that Mr. Gregory could resume his studies. Mr. Gregory pursued a bachelor’s degree at Princeton and a master’s in business administration at Harvard University at the same time, earning both degrees in 1949. He joined Rohm & Haas in 1949 as a junior accountant responsible for conducting internal audits at three of the chemical company’s plants. In 1953, he was sent to France to start up the first Rohm & Haas plant abroad. In 1955, he moved to England to manage the company’s agricultural-chemical operations before becoming the firm’s director of European operations in 1964. In 1968, Mr. Gregory moved back to Philadelphia and assumed control of company operations in Latin America and the Pacific. In 1970, as the Haas family loosened its hold on the company, departing president F. Otto Haas chose Mr. Gregory as the first non-family head of Rohm & Haas. In addition to his wife, Marjorie, and granddaughter, Melanie, he is survived by a son, Greg; a second granddaughter, Emma Smith; four great-grandchildren; and nieces and nephews.