Established May 17, 1954, by “Metalumni” in honor of Professor Demorest. Income provides scholarships for students in metallurgical engineering and materials science and engineering.
Adapted from his obituary in The Chemical Record, October 1958.
Photo of Dana Demorest from 1944.
Dana J. Demorest died on June 30, 1958, at the age of 76, bringing to a close his long and useful career including 44 years of teaching at The Ohio State University.
Born in Marysville, Ohio on August 21, 1882. He attended The Ohio State University from where he received the B.Sc. degree in Chemical Engineering in 1905. While a student, he was an assistant in the department of metallurgy for two years under the nationally known Professors Nathaniel W. Lord and E. S. Somermeier.
Prof. Demorest was married in 1907 to Margaret Wiltsee, a daughter of Rev. T.L. Wiltsee of Marysville. Mrs. Demorest died in 1913, after the birth of their only child, a daughter.
In 1908 he joined the faculty at Ohio State University, as assistant professor, and his academic career was thereafter interrupted only by a short term with the U.S. Bureau of Mines (in 1909) and by military service in World War I. In the U. S. Army he was first a Lieutenant in Ordnance, later a Major in charge of toxic gas production at the Edgewood Arsenal.
In 1918, he returned to O.S.U. and replaced Professor Somermeier as Chairman of the department of metallurgy. He retired from the chairman’s post in 1948 but continued to teach, deferring the emeritus status until 1952.
Dana Demorest was a lover of nature a friend of children and a fancier of dogs. A good bridge player and an avid conversationalist, he was sought out by many and well-liked by all who knew him. He was a Methodist and a Mason.