Emil Inderbitzen, chemist who helped give image to skyscraper
Aug. 24, 1917—Oct. 26, 2009
Emil R. Inderbitzen, a former Union Carbide chemist who worked on uranium analysis for the Manhattan Project and helped give a prominent New York City skyscraper its distinctive look, died Monday in his Wheatfield home after a brief illness. He was 92.
Mr. Inderbitzen, nicknamed “Inde,” was born on Buffalo’s East Side and was a graduate of Bennett High School.
He graduated from Canisius College in 1940 and spent the next 30 years as a chemist for Union Carbide in Niagara Falls. During World War II, he worked on uranium analysis for what he later learned was the government’s ultrasecret Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bomb.
Mr. Inderbitzen was also responsible for developing a coating process that helped bring a distinctive look to Union Carbide’s 53-story skyscraper at 270 Park Ave. in Manhattan—now known as the Chase Building— which was also designed by a native Buffalonian, Gordon Bunshaft. Mr. Inderbitzen developed the permyron process that allowed patterns to be stamped into the steel panels already treated with a black coating. The stamped pattern was first attempted successfully at Rigidized Steel on Ohio Street in Buffalo.
After retiring from Union Carbide, Mr. Inderbitzen joined the staff of Canisius College and worked as a chemistry lab instructor until 1994.
He and his wife, Ruth Ziemer Inderbitzen, raised six children and lived in their Amherst home for more than 50 years. She died in 2000.
Mr. Inderbitzen was a past member of the Canisius Alumni Association’s board of directors, was inducted into the college’s DiGamma Honor Society and in 2000 was awarded the La- Salle Medal by the Alumni Association.
Surviving are three daughters, Marcia Cartie, Mary Beth Arlotta and Ann Ostrowski, and three sons, Robert, Paul and Mark.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 10 a. m. Saturday in the Canisius College Chapel.
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