J. Lawrence Amos was born in New Matamoras, Ohio. As a young man he worked in road construction to earn money toward his educational expenses at Marietta College, from which he recieved as BS degree in chemistry in 1928. He attended Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, Ohio, where he earned his MS degree in chemical engineering in 1930.

Amos joined Dow Chemical Company in Midland, Michigan in 1930 and began work in the physical research laboratory. Throughout his long career at Dow, he was involved with research, development, and production of petrochemicals and of plastics made from those petrochemicals. Amos was actively involved in the invention synthetic rubber, Styrofoam, and plastic film, and is credited as inventor or co-inventor on 64 patents, 236 disclosures, and 106 applications in connection with foreign patents. He retired from Dow in 1971.

During World War II, Amos was recognized for distinguished service to the Naval Ordnance Department. He received an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from Marietta in 1966. He also received the International Award in Plastics Science and Engineering in 1973 and the Distinguished Inventor Award by the Saginaw Valley Patent Law Association in 1983.

Amos helped plan and build the Memorial Presbyterian Church in Midland, where he was an active member. In Amos' honor the James Lawrence Amos '30 Scholarship Fund is endowed for a student attending Case; and the J. Lawrence Amos Endowed Scholarship at Marietta College was established in 1984.

Amos was co-editor (with Ray H. Boundy) of A History of the Dow Chemical Physics Lab: the Freedom to be Creative (Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press, 1990).

Source:

"MC's Alumni Association inducting four members into Hall of Honor," Marietta College website (posted 10/04/2006). (accessed May 7, 2012)