Reatha Clark King

Born on 11 April 1938 in Pavo, Georgia, Reatha Clark King is a pioneering African American chemist. She earned her BS in chemistry and mathematics from Clark College in Atlanta in 1958. A Woodrow Wilson fellowship allowed her to attend graduate school at the University of Chicago, where she obtained her master’s in chemistry in 1960 and her PhD in thermochemistry in 1963. She was then hired by the National Bureau of Standards in Washington, DC, as a research chemist, working on materials science and high-temperature chemistry. She headed a project to study oxygen difluoride, a potential rocket-fuel component for NASA. In 1968 she moved to New York City, where she became a professor at York College in Queens and rose through the ranks to become associate dean of the natural science and mathematics division in 1970 and associate dean of academic affairs in 1974. In 1976 King completed an MBA from Columbia University, and the following year she was offered the presidency of Metropolitan State University in Minneapolis–St Paul, where she worked for the next 11 years. She was then hired by General Mills as president of the General Mills Foundation and vice president of General Mills Inc, working until she retired in 2002. King has served on numerous corporate and nonprofit boards and has received many honorary degrees and awards, including the Exceptional Black Scientist Award from the CIBA-GEIGY Corporation. (Photo credit: VocalEssence Ensemble Singers, CC BY-SA 2.0 )

Date in History: 11 April 1938