MABERY, CHARLES F. (13 Jan. 1850-26 June 1927), chemist, professor, and researcher, was born in New Gloucester, Maine to Henry and Elizabeth Mabery and received a public-school education. In 1876 he earned a bachelor's degree from Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard University, and in 1881 received a Ph.D. from Harvard Graduate School. From 1874-83 he was an assistant in chemistry at Harvard and director of Harvard Summer School in Chemistry for Teachers. Mabery came to Case School of Applied Science in Cleveland in 1883, becoming a professor in 1884 and heading the chemistry department until he retired in 1911. Among his students were ALBERT W. SMITH and HERBERT DOW, founder of Dow Chemical Co.
As a organic chemistry researcher, Mabery was most interested in the composition of petroleum and published more than 60 papers on the substance. He was also interested in electrochemistry and helped develop an electric furnace for smelting. He studied the metallurgy of aluminum, the extraction of bromine from brine, and the atmosphere of Cleveland. He was concerned about contemporary urban conditions and wrote papers on municipal water supplies and sanitation. Mabery was an art connoisseur and helped develop the CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART and Cleveland School of Art. Upon his death, he left $65,000 to Case School of Applied Science, stipulating that the money be held until it accumulated enough annual interest to endow a professorship. The first Chas. F. Mabery Professorship was awarded in 1969. Mabery married Frances A. Lewis in 1872; they had no children. He died in Portland, Maine and was buried in Gorham, Maine.