Passed away on June 4, 2018 following a brief illness.
Born in Nashville, Tennessee in March 1926 to the late Ben Watson Melvin and the late Virginia Darden Melvin. At age 10, his family moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina where he lived for six years. Upon returning to the U.S. in 1942, he enrolled in Staunton Military Academy, and while there enlisted in the Army Air Corps pilot training program, to which he reported immediately following graduation in 1944. On leaving the service in 1946, he attended the University of Richmond (VA) before transferring to the University of Delaware where he earned a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree in 1950 and received the Charles B. Evans award for excellence in undergraduate research. He joined the DuPont Company and served in various supervisory and management assignments in Manufacturing, Research, Technical Service, Marketing, and Administration until his retirement in 1991 as Executive Assistant to the Chairman.
He loved the outdoors and over the years was active in skiing, hunting, fishing, and tennis, but his passion was golf, which he and his wife pursued as members of Wilmington Country Club and at many other U.S. and offshore locations. He was a member of Christ Church Christiana Hundred and also held memberships in the DuPont Country Club, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Society of Chemical Industry, and Kappa Alpha Order Fraternity.
He was predeceased in 2008 by his wife of 56 years, Elizabeth Hershey Melvin, and in 2014 by his sister Martha M. Ficke of Wilmington. He is survived by son Ben W. Melvin, III of Wilmington with Rebecca Ferguson; daughter Landis M. Bowman of Westminster, CO with grandchildren Kelley, Katie, and Christopher; son Thomas C. Melvin of Newark, DE with wife Rebecca and granddaughter Lucie; son Mark C. Melvin of Windham, NH with wife Sue and grandchildren Kenna and Cooper.
The family would like to express their warm thanks to the people in the Health Care wing at the Stonegates Retirement Community, who cared for Ben with compassion and fortitude.
The family suggests in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to Christiana Care Health System, Office of Development, PO Box 1668, Wilmington, DE 19885.
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