Darrell Hyson Reneker

DARRELL HYSON RENEKER

Akron, Ohio

Darrell Hyson Reneker, 91, died Sunday, October 17, 2021, in Akron, Ohio. He was born at home in rural Winchester southeast of Birmingham, Iowa, December 5, 1929, to Glenn and Edith Syfert Reneker.

Darrell was a lifetime academic achiever. His

formal education started in

a one-room school in Winchester. He often credited Marjorie Morrison, his rural school teacher, as being the one that sparked his drive for learning that never waned throughout his life. Over the years he would often send her a greeting card thanking her for nurturing him with the drive to learn. This went on until her death in 2009 some 66 years later.

At an early age he was a reader of Popular Mechanics magazines and any other similar material he could get his hands on to enhance his knowledge. A favorite pastime, during infrequent shopping trips to Fairfield, was to search the local junk yards for items he could repurpose or incorporate into a home project which he had been reading about. He made a crystal-set radio that could be listened to with a set of ear phones.

He graduated from Stockport High School with the class of 1947 and attended Parsons College the following year before transferring to Iowa State College [University] where he graduated in 1951, receiving a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering. While at Iowa State he met Joan Rose Eddleman, a Home Economics major from Des Moines, so college life wasn't all about studies. They married on July 10, 1953.

Darrell took a job with Bell Telephone in New Jersey where he worked for several years. He then received a Fellowship which enabled his family to move so he could attend the University of Chicago where he received a Doctorate Degree in Physics.

A research assignment took him to DuPont in Wilmington, Delaware. When the opportunity arrived several years later, he began a position as Laboratory Director for the National Institution of Science and Technology (formerly named the Bureau of Standards). It was while at the NIST that he was given the opportunity to serve as a liaison between the Institute of Physical Science and the Bush/Quayle White House Office Building.

Around the year 2000, he was selected as the Director of the Institute of Polymer Science at the University of Akron in Ohio. There he was not only Director of the Institute but also Emeritus Professor doing basic research in polymers. He maintained an office there until his death.

Darrell became internationally known for his work in polymers, electrospinning, and electron microscopy. His research resulted in a variety of patents. Darrell loved to travel and meet his colleagues. He had the opportunity to visit many countries and was frequently called upon to be a guest lecturer at international physical science conferences.

Darrell was preceded in death by his wife, Joan, in 2014; and his parents.

He is survived by his son, Douglas Alan (Margaret) Reneker; daughter, Elizabeth Ann (Stephen) Riley; four grandchildren, Thomas Carl (Elizabeth Renee) Reneker, Joseph William Reneker, Kathleen Rose Riley and Patrick Ward Riley; two great-grandchildren, Oscar Lawrence Reneker and Eloise Renee Reneker; his brother, William Daniel Reneker; and sisters, Ruth Darlene Manchester and Mary Lee Hoage.

Burial will be later at the Zion Bible Church in rural Douds, Iowa.