John DuBois Neefus, PhD, CIH, 92, died peacefully at home in Chesapeake, VA, Thursday, April 14, 2022. He was born on May 30, 1929 in Newark, NJ, to William and Lillian and survived by his beloved wife Marian Siehl Neefus, sister Lillian Clayton, two children and three grandchildren. John was an active member at Great Bridge Presbyterian Church and had served as clerk of Session.
After being skipped two grades in public school he enrolled at Rutgers but flunked out after playing bridge in the student union all day. He worked matching inks until receiving encouraging IQ results and enrolled in Wilmington College, Wilmington, Ohio. He graduated in 1952, married in 1953, and received a Draft letter the day his first son John was born, enlisted then served as a US Army meteorologist in Fort Richardson, Alaska during the Korean War. After a time with American Cyanimide’s Chemical Construction Corp, he joined Texas Gulf Sulfur Company’s new phosphate mining operation in Aurora, NC. He was hired to set up the chemistry lab and work on air pollution control. Following the environmental legislation of the 1970’s, he enrolled in the University of Cincinnati’s Kettering Lab and earned a master’s degree in environmental health and a PhD in the new fieId of Industrial Hygiene. He pioneered the industrial hygiene program at Burlington Industries in North Carolina whose 100+ factories had to comply with EPA standards. He was awarded a US patent for his system of reducing cotton dust in textile factories. With scientists from NC State, he isolated the cause of byssinosis (brown lung disease) which had plagued retired textile workers. John wrote Chapter 58 on textile industrial hygiene in a book on health hazards control. He founded the Textile Industrial Hygiene Roundtable and served as a director of the American Board of Industrial Hygiene, the national organization certifying industrial hygienists. He wrote articles on textile industry industrial hygiene and was recognized internationally as an expert in cotton dust sampling. Environmental crusader Ralph Nader planned an expose on Burlington Industry‘s plant environments but changed his target. John took this as a compliment. Noise, lead paint, formaldehyde, dusts, and other hazardous substances were also his concern. Research Triangle Institute in Raleigh NC was his final employer.
John was a scholarly stamp collector of German plebiscite countries post WWI, such as Memel and Allenstein, an authority on their authenticity and varieties, and wrote books and articles on the subject. He founded a chapter of the Germany Philatelic Society. Other interests included birdwatching, surf fishing, Duke basketball and Cincinnati Reds baseball. He loved family, home, church and Bible study.
He was writing a book on his family history which he traced back to 1545 and the beginning of the Dutch Reformed Church. His direct ancestor Johannes Nevius came to New Amsterdam in 1651 as Peter Stuyvesant’s secretary. His coat of arms says Keep the Faith (Tiens la Foy) with stump of Jesse emitting a shoot with three leaves: the Holy Trinity. The service is Saturday, April 30, 2022 at 11 a.m. at Great Bridge Presbyterian Church, 333 Cedar Road, Chesapeake. A time of visiting is Friday, April 29, 2022 from 5-7 p.m. at Graham Funeral Home, 1112 Kempsville Rd., Chesapeake. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to Great Bridge Presbyterian Church or one of two retreats John was involved in: Tidewater Emmaus or Presbyterian Pilgrimage. Make checks to PEVA Pilgrimage or Tidewater Emmaus with memo “Pilgrimage Scholarship”. Mail to GBPC 333 Cedar Rd. Chesapeake, VA 23322.