Harold Sorgenti was an American engineer, businessman and investor, the former president and chief executive officer of ARCO Chemical and a key member of Ennovance Capital. He has served as chairman of the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Education

Sorgenti received a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

in Chemical Engineering from City College of New York and an

M.S. A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

in Chemical Engineering from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

Career

Sorgenti started his career as a scientist for ARCO Chemical company, a subsidiary of

Atlantic Richfield ARCO ( ) is a brand of gasoline stations currently owned by Marathon Petroleum after BP sold its rights. BP commercializes the brand in Northern California, Oregon and Washington, while Marathon has rights for the rest of the United States and ...

, where he developed several U.S. patents that led to the formation of new chemical industrial processes. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of ARCO Chemical between 1979 and 1991, where he headed the transformation of ARCO Chemical that led to splitting the company into two entities: Lyondell Petrochemical (now LyondellBasell) and ARCO Chemical Company. After serving for ARCO Chemical, he co-founded with Fred Rullo the Freedom Chemical Company, a company that made several lower middle-market acquisitions of specialty chemical companies, which sold to

BFGoodrich BFGoodrich is an American tire company. Originally part of the industrial conglomerate Goodrich Corporation, it was acquired in 1990 (along with Uniroyal, then The Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company) by the French tire maker Michelin. BFGoodrich ...

for $375 million in 1998. In 2003 Sorgenti received the Petrochemical Heritage Award from the

Chemical Heritage Foundation The Science History Institute is an institution that preserves and promotes understanding of the history of science. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it includes a library, museum, archive, research center and conference center. It was fo ...

. In 2010, Sorgenti joined Ennovance Capital, a Philadelphia-based private equity firm, as an operating partner. Sorgenti died on July 11, 2018.

Cultural activities

In 1980 Sorgenti joined the board of the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

and was chairman from 1986 to 1993. From 2005 to 2009 he served as chairman of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sorgenti, Harold 20th-century American inventors 1934 births 2018 deaths