Return to Leermakers Home Page

Peter Anthony Leermakers

Peter A. Leermakers was born in Rochester, New York on March 28, 1937. After attending Allendale High School, he entered Wesleyan University and received his B.A. degree in 1958. Three years later, Peter Leermakers was awarded his Ph.D. degree from the California Institute of Technology for research with Professor George S. Hammond. After one year of postdoctoral work at Yale University with Professor W. von E. Doering, he returned to Wesleyan in 1962 as Assistant Professor. Peter Leermakers was an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow for 1967-1969 and was promoted to full Professor in 1969. He died on August 16, 1971 at Mariposa, California as a result of an automobile accident.

During his brief career, Peter Leermakers was author of some sixty research papers and was widely regarded as a creative chemist. He was held in high esteem by his students and his colleagues and inspired many students to choose chemistry as a career. While best known for his work in photochemistry and photosensitization, his breath of interest in chemistry ranged from small ring compounds to the mechanism of vision.