Michael E. Hendrick *72

Body

Michael E. Hendrick, distinguished young organic chemist who specialized in food additives, died May 25, 1995, at his home in Groton, Conn. He was 49. Born in Memphis, he received his bachelor's in chemistry with honors from Southwestern (now Rhodes) College in 1967. He earned his master's and doctorate at Princeton in chemistry. He spent a year of postdoctoral study each at the Univ. of the Ruhr in Germany and Stanford. He was employed by the food-service division of Charles Pfizer, Inc., for which he made numerous highly valuable discoveries. Most significant of these was the synthesis of Alitame, a sweetener estimated to be some 2,000 times sweeter than sucrose. This compound, already widely used in Europe, is currently pending approval by the FDA.

He is survived by his wife, Martha; a son, Lee; and his mother, Audrey. To all his family and friends, we extend our sympathy.

The Graduate Alumni

No responses yet

Join the conversation

Plain text

Full name and Princeton affiliation (if applicable) are required for all published comments. For more information, view our commenting policy. Responses are limited to 500 words for online and 250 words for print consideration.

Paw in print

Image
The cover of PAW’s November 2025 issue, featuring a photo of a space probe and the headline "Made in Princeton."
The Latest Issue

November 2025

NASA’s new IMAP mission, London’s big data detective, AI challenges in the classroom.