Edward F. Cluff

Edward Fuller Cluff, 91, of Kendall-Crosslands in Kennett Square passed away on August 18, 2019 at the Hospice Center of Chester County Hospital in West Chester.

Ed was born and raised in Dedham, MA, the son of the late Frances P. and Laurance W. Cluff.   He attended The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating with a PhD in Chemistry in 1952.   He went to work for E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Co., Inc. that same year. Very shortly after that, he was drafted into the Army Chemical Corps and stationed in Alabama for a short period before returning to work at DuPont in Wilmington, DE. An accomplished scientist, he was granted many U.S. patents and developed a number of new industrial elastomer products, ultimately moving into various Research Management positions from which he retired in 1985.   After a year of diligently working on his golf game with no discernible improvement he decided his time would be better spent back in the R&D world and he went to work for Polymeric Systems Inc. as their Research Director from where he retired for good in 1996 to pursue his other interests – golfing and skiing well into his 80s, honing his expertise as a bridge player, volunteer work, and deep involvement for many years in the First Unitarian Church of Wilmington.   Ed and his wife Connie traveled extensively all over the world in those early retirement years and Ed was especially adept at turning the many pictures he took into a narrated DVD chronology of each of those trips, which all of the children attentively watched during Christmas gatherings.

Ed was predeceased by his loving wife Constance S. Cluff and is survived by: his two sons from his first marriage Stephen L. Cluff and his wife Kim of St. Helena Island, SC; Christopher W. Cluff and his wife Gail of Hamilton, MT; their children and his grandchildren Charlie Cluff of San Francisco, CA and Kate Cluff of Sitka, Alaska; and his three step-daughters Sharon Witonsky of Blacksburg, VA, Trudi Witonsky and her husband Frankie Johnson of Madison, WI; and Laura Witonsky Seaholm, her husband Alan Seaholm, their three children Jeremiah, Oscar and Ben also of Madison, WI.

A memorial service is planned for later this fall at Kendall – Crosslands in Kennett Square with date and time still to be determined.