BUTKIN, NOAH L. (26 June 1918-11 Feb. 1980) was an internationally known chemical engineer and metals executive. Born in New York City to Louis and Edith Butkin, Noah Butkin grew up in Oklahoma and was educated at the University of Oklahoma (BS, 1941), where he played violin with the Oklahoma City Symphony Orchestra. After a brief U. S. army stint in WORLD WAR II, Butkin went to work for the Continental Can Company in Terre Haute, Indiana, then did research for the Indianapolis-based P.R. Mallory and Co. In 1947 he cofounded (with Sidney Danziger) and became president of the Alloys and Chemical Corporation (inc. 1950) in Cleveland, an international metal business. Butkin later opened a smelting company. In 1964 Alloys and Chemicals became part of Rio Tinto Zinc (RTZ) Corp. of England; Butkin retained his position as president. In 1969, he was named president of RTZ Aluminum Industries Inc. and the following year, became managing director of RTZ Aluminum Industries Inc. In 1973 he was President and Chair of the Rio Indal, Inc., a metals, marketing, and trading office of RTZ. Butkin belonged to several professional organizations and served on the boards of trustees of the CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART and the WESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Works of art which Butkin donated to the Cleveland Museum of Art include a harbor scene by Allaert van Everdingen, a Willem van der Velde seascape, and the salon landscape by Jean Victor Bertin. He married Muriel Spiro of Waynesboro, Penn.; they lived in SHAKER HEIGHTS. The couple had no children. Butkin was buried in LAKE VIEW CEMETERY.
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