Andre Jacques De Bethune, Phd

Andr Jacques de Bthune, PhD, 91, formerly of 160 Bristol Ferry Rd, Portsmouth, RI, died Saturday, October 30, 2010, at Newport Hospital, Newport, RI, of natural causes. He was the husband of Margaret Ann Maurer de Bthune of Middletown, RI.Born in Brussels, Belgium, on August 20, 1919, Dr. de Bthune was the son of the late Gaston S.P. and Marthe Terlinden de Bthune. Together with his parents, he immigrated to the United States in 1928. He graduated from St. Peters College in Jersey City, NJ, in 1939 and received his PhD in Chemistry from Columbia University in New York in 1945. He did research for the Manhattan Project during World War II and was a fellow of the National Research Council at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. de Bthune was Professor of Chemistry at Boston College from 1947 until his retirement in 1988, serving as Department Chair in 1965-1967 and 1972-1974. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in Chemistry in 1960, and also served as Associate Editor of the Journal of the Electrochemical Society.Dr. de Bthune is survived by his wife of 61 years, Margaret Ann Maurer de Bthune of Middletown, RI, and his children: Martha Ginty of Newport, RI; Agnes de Bthune of Jersey City, NJ; Peter de Bthune of St. Albans, ME; Christopher de Bthune of Adelino, NM; Elizabeth de Bthune of Yonkers, NY; Joseph de Bthune of Northfield, MA; Marie Thrse de Bthune of Hastings-on-Hudson, NY; Anne de Bthune of New York, NY; Stephen de Bthune of Moscow, Russia; and Sara Katherine de Bthune of Cambridge, MA; as well as nine grandchildren. He was preceded in death by siblings Thrse de Bthune, Pierre de Bthune, Ad Bthune, and Franoise Fuchss.Calling hours will be held Friday, November 12th, from 4:00 to 8:00 pm in the Memorial Funeral Home, 375 Broadway, Newport. The funeral will be held on Saturday, November 13th beginning with a Mass of Christian Burial at 10:00 am in the Church of St. Gregory the Great at Portsmouth Abbey, 285 Corys Lane, Portsmouth, followed by burial in St. Columbas Cemetery in Middletown. Memorial donations may be made to the John Clarke Retirement Center, 600 Valley Road, Middletown, RI.