Dr. Alan Campbell Knight

Alan Campbell Knight passed away on November 17, 2018.  He was 96 years old.

Alan Knight was born November 2, 1922 in Hartford, CT, to Ralph E. Knight, a preacher, and Eva Campbell Knight, an English teacher.   When Alan was about 5 years old, the family returned to Ralph and Eva’s home state of Oregon.  Alan went to public school in the Willamette Valley and graduated from Beaverton High School.  In his third year at Oregon State College, the fall of 1942, Alan volunteered for the Army during WWII.  After serving in various locations in the U.S. and the Philippines, he was honorably discharged in 1946.  In 1947, he married Edith Griffith, with whom he had two daughters, Katherine and Rebecca.  With the aid of the GI bill, he finished college in 1950 with a PhD in Chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley.  Also in 1950 he went to work for the DuPont Company, working until retirement in 1987.  In 1970, Alan married Loretta Eickhoff.  They lived in Wilmington, DE, Parkersburg, WV and Kennett Square, PA,. Together they enjoyed traveling the world extensively throughout their marriage and into retirement.

In his long career with DuPont, Alan worked on the development of Teflon, Lucite, polyethylene, and nylon intermediates at locations in Wilmington, DE, Victoria and Orange, TX, as well as Parkersburg, WV.  He was very active and enjoyed square dancing, ballroom dancing, musical theater, bridge, reading, book discussion and gardening.  Alan had a special love of opera and took Italian classes at Ohio University to better appreciate and understand it in its native language.

He is survived by Rebecca Knight Coalson and her husband, William, their children, Timothy and Jennifer, her husband, Matthew, their children Clara and Henry, of St Louis, MO.  He is also survived by his wife Loretta, her son, John Gaadt and his wife, Suzanne and their children, Ian and Giulia, of Chadds Ford, and a granddaughter, Hannah Lokken and her husband, Andrew Lee, of New York City

In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate a donation to Neighborhood Health Hospice, 400 East Marshall Street, West Chester, PA 19380, in honor of Alan.

Services and burial in Longwood Cemetery will be private.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Dr. Alan Campbell Knight, please visit our floral store.