Accession UAA-1996-114 - UAA-1996-114

Educator, scientist, 1928-1996. Loren Hepler was born in 1928 at Ottawa, Kansas. Dr. Hepler received a B.Sc. from the University of Kansas in 1950 and a Ph.D. from the University of California in 1953. His first academic appointment was at the University of Virginia, before moving to the Carnegie Institute of Technology, and the University of Louisville. Dr. Hepler moved to Canada in 1968 to teach at the University of Lethbridge before joining the University of Alberta as a professor of chemistry and chemical engineering. In 1976, he was named Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research (AOSTRA) professor at the University of Lethbridge and was considered an expert on the extraction of oil from the Alberta oil sands. Dr. Hepler wrote or co-authored 231 scientific publications including several textbooks on chemistry that were widely used in undergraduate courses. Upon his retirement in 1991, Dr. Hepler was appointed Professor Emeritus of the University of Alberta. Dr. Hepler married Olivia Kohler in 1954 and the Hepler's had four children: Bill, Jim, Charley and Rachel. Dr. Hepler passed away in 1996.