In Memoriam: Henry (Hank) P. Shotwell IV
Editor's note: AIHA thanks the members of the New Jersey section (NJAIHA) who sent in this remembrance of Henry (Hank) P. Shotwell IV.
AIHA member Henry (Hank) P. Shotwell IV, CIH, PhD, passed away on Jan. 14 at the age of 77. Hank was a longtime, dedicated NJAIHA member and served the section in a number of positions over the span of four decades. In 2020, Hank completed 10 consecutive years of service on NJAIHA’s Executive Committee as secretary, and as of this past year he had reached another milestone by serving 10 years in a row as director of NJAIHA’s Summer Industrial Hygiene Review Course. Hank’s volunteerism as course director was unparalleled; this role required him to spend three hours for 12 consecutive Tuesday summer evenings hosting the course’s on-site sessions on the Rutgers University campus. Hank’s enthusiasm to help train and mentor the future generation of industrial hygiene practitioners will truly be missed.
At the time of his passing, Hank was a semi-retired senior health and safety consultant with HP Shotwell. He was a Certified Industrial Hygienist, held a PhD in safety engineering, and had broad experience in both IH and safety. During his lengthy career in the environmental, health, and safety field, Hank worked for Atlantic Environmental Inc. (senior vice president), Shotwell Associates (owner), Sun Chemical Corp. (EHS manager), American Cyanamid Co. (IH/safety specialist), Food & Drug Research Labs (IH toxicologist), and Olin Corp. (senior medical/IH technologist).
He gained clinical experience at Yale New Haven Hospital and at the Yale Arbovirus Research Unit, where he did research on dengue fever. Hank also worked at the 9/11 site assisting with air quality monitoring, and he was especially fond of providing expert witness testimony.
Hank graduated from Fordham University in 1965 with a BS in biology and chemistry, attained an MS in biomedical science from the University of Bridgeport in 1973, and in 1998 completed a PhD in safety engineering from Kennedy Western University.
Hank was fondly described by a colleague as the “eclectic’s eclectic with a renaissance-caliber variety of interests,” and many who knew him would agree. Outside of work, Hank was a Civil War reenactor with the 2nd Rhode Island Company B, had a passion for cooking, played all shapes and sizes of recorders, was an experienced watchmaker as well as a repairer and collector of antique watches, loved old cars, and was an active member of the German Heritage Council Choral Society.
Hank’s obituary on the website of the Cochran Funeral Home recounts his long and illustrious professional career and personal life. Online condolences may be left there.
Hank’s camaraderie with NJAIHA and all of its members, and with the broader IH and EHS community, will be dearly missed. We will be keeping Hank, his family, and his friends in our thoughts and prayers.