Bay City Loses a Friend with Death of Ted Doan of Dow Chemical Last Tuesday
|
||||||||||
| Printer Friendly Story View |
Bay City lost a friend last Tuesday.
Midland and Michigan lost a business giant.
Herbert D. "Ted" Doan died at age 83 in Ann Arbor.
Mr. Doan said recently: "Bay City really has things going, especially downtown and along the river."
The former Dow Chemical Company president was vitally interested in everything that would help the tri-county area.
He was instrumental in the initiation of the new Midland professional baseball team, launched at a news conference at the Valley Plaza in April.
Major buildings at Saginaw Valley State University, the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, as well as in Midland, bear his name.
His support of Bay City development certainly was positive in several recent major grants from Midland foundations to Bay City projects such as the State Theatre renovation, the Pere Marquette Union Station renovation and others.
Mr. Doan was the last member of the Dow family to serve as president of the company founded by his grandfather, Herbert Dow, in 1897.
"Ted Doan was not only a man of bold action, but also keen intellect and quiet reflection," said Andrew Liveris, chairman and CEO of the giant chemical firm.
We met Mr. Doan when he spent several months attending hearings in Bay City in 1962 for a proposed Foreign Trade Zone at the Dow dock at the mouth of the river in Bangor Township.
Although the firm subsequently decided against zone operations and moved most of its operations out of Bay City, Mr. Doan retained an active interest in affairs here.
Mr. Doan was credited with transforming Dow from an obscure chemical company to one of the best known U.S. companies and one of the world's largest chemical firms, according to E.N. "Ned" Brandt, former public relations director of Dow and official company historian.
Born in Midland in 1922, Mr. Doan attended local elementary schools and Cranbrook Academy, Bloomfield Hills where he was a scholar and member of the wrestling team.
He majored in Chemical Engineering at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Joining the U.S. Air Force in 1943, andserved during World War II as a meteorologist in the South Pacific. He took up boxing in the Air Force and was a member of the Cornell boxing team on discharge from the service.
Mr. Doan became CEO of Dow at age 40. He created the Dow corporate culture: an open door and encouraging policy with employees, emphasis on research and commitment to communities where Dow has plants.
After retirement from Dow, he founded Doan Associates, a venture capital firm, and Doan Resources, a smallbusiness investment firm.
He was chairman of the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation, the Michigan Molecular Institute, co-chaired the Michigan Venture Capital Task Force and headed the Michigan High Technology Task Force. He also served on the National Science Board and the board of the Office of Technology Assessment, the advisory board of the University of Michigan College of Engineering and Argonne National Laboratories of the University of Chicago.
Surviving are his wife, Anna Junia, daughters Alexandra, Christine and Ruth and sons Michael and Jeffrey.
Services will be Tuesday at 11 a.m. in the Midland Center for the Arts with committal services in the Midland Cemetery and reception at the Midland Country Club to follow. Arrangements are in care of the Ware-Smith-Woolever Funeral Directors, 877-631-2292.
Those wishing to give an expression of sympathy may wish to consider the Michigan Molecular Institute's (MMI) Herbert D. Doan Fund for new ventures, 1910 W. St. Andrews, Midland, MI 48640 or the Midland County Historical Society, 3417 W. Main St., Midland, MI 48640.
| Printer Friendly Story View |
|
|
Dave Rogers |
|
|
|
Printer-Friendly Story View
0200 Nd: 04-21-2024 d 4 cpr 0
12/31/2020 P3v3-0200-Ad.cfm
SPONSORED LINKS
12/31/2020 drop ads P3v3-0200-Ad.cfm