Warren and Katharine Schlinger: Philanthropic Chemistry

A line from an article in UC Berkeley's College of Chemistry Newsjournal may have said it best: "By all accounts, Warren and Katharine Schlinger are Caltech people."

Indeed.

Warren (BS '44, MS '46, PhD '49) and Katharine Schlinger's association with Caltech began many years ago when Warren came to campus as an undergraduate student in the fall of 1941. A three-degree alumnus, Warren spent a total of 12 years at the Institute earning his BS in applied chemistry, his MS and PhD in chemical engineering, conducting postdoctoral research, and teaching. But that's not all. He met his wife, Katharine (Katie), on campus while she was working as a chemical engineering department secretary for Dr. William Lacey and Warren's faculty advisor, Dr. Bruce Sage.

"We've always liked Caltech," Warren Schlinger confesses, "and we never really left Pasadena." He says his early interest in Caltech was piqued by the public lectures that were held on campus for the surrounding community. He made a strong connection with the chemical sciences early on as well. "I was extremely interested in chemistry, even in grammar school."

From those early academic interests, Warren was able to build an impressive career at Texaco, where he worked from 1953 until his retirement in 1987. As manager of the Montebello Research Laboratory and associate director of gasification, he was involved in developing processes to produce clean energy from traditional fossil fuel sources. Warren also holds more than 67 patents concerning gasification and hydrocarbon processing. This work has garnered him national acclaim, including membership in the National Academy of Engineering and the American Chemical Society, and recognition by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers as a fellow and a recipient of the Chemical Engineering Practice Award.

Katie, who also grew up in the Pasadena area, enjoyed a very successful career as a vocal soloist, having been featured many times in the Carmel Bach Festival. Warren and Katie raised three children along the way and enriched their lives through travel and a range of interests such as golf, skiing, tennis, and backpacking. They also have remained closely connected to Caltech through their membership in the Associates. Today, the couple splits their time between Pasadena and Pebble Beach.

The Schlingers have expressed their special loyalty to Caltech over the years by endowing two graduate fellowship funds, a SURF scholarship, and the Warren and Katharine Schlinger Professorship in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, which is currently held by Mark Davis. They also generously participated in Caltech's Biological Sciences Initiative, funding and naming a seminar room, and have made a lead commitment to the Institute's campaign.

Warren credits their uncommon generosity to "fortunate dealings with the stock market." However, it's clear that the couple's philanthropic tendencies also stem from something more intangible.

Before WWI, Warren's father, William Schlinger, and a friend started a small package delivery business. Later, the United Parcel Service bought the business to expand into Los Angeles. He was given an opportunity to buy into the privately held company and worked there for the rest of his career. When Mr. Schlinger passed away, the family created a modest foundation from his estate. "My father was always aware of the fact that he was never able to go to college," Warren recalls. "He wanted to see more people get that opportunity."

Warren and Katie have also made good use of investments, as well as with Warren's success in his career, and established the Warren and Katharine Schlinger Foundation to fuel their own charitable interests. They have been able to support nearly 50 worthwhile organizations, and have endowed professorial chairs in chemical engineering at UC Santa Barbara and UC Berkeley-Berkeley's first devoted to the field.

However, financial resources are not their only means of philanthropy. When Warren came to Caltech, he boxed up everything from his home laboratory. Just recently, Warren collected those old boxes from storage and donated their contents to the Chemical Heritage Foundation. "Those boxes contained all of the things a budding chemist had to work with in the 1930s," he says. The collection-which includes glassware, lab equipment, and many bottles of reagent chemicals that Warren accumulated in his youth-will soon be seen in an exhibit at the foundation in Philadelphia.

Bringing their relationship with Caltech full circle, Warren and Katie have increased their campaign pledge to $5 million. Their commitment will be used to support the construction of a proposed 70,000-square-foot chemical sciences building, which will update and expand current laboratory, lecture, and office facilities for Caltech's chemistry and chemical engineering programs.

"Warren and Katie have been wonderful friends of Caltech and the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering for many years," says David Tirrell, chair of the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. "Their contributions to support the chemical sciences laboratory represent critical first steps toward providing the facilities that we need to maintain the quality of our programs for decades to come."

"It seems the techniques and developments in chemistry and chemical engineering are just advancing so fast," Warren says, also commenting on the importance of the chemical sciences to closely related fields like bioengineering.

"I was very glad to see that the chemistry building was very high on Caltech's list of priorities." Humbly, Warren continues, "So, we're just doing what we can to see that plans for the new facility move forward."

By Vannessa Dodson