Dr. Stuart Suter ’63 originally thought he would be a research chemist. After graduating from Bridgewater College in 1963, he earned an M.S. in chemistry from the University of Michigan in 1965 and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Virginia in 1971. But jobs for organic chemists with Ph.Ds. were scarce in the early 1970s.
Then he saw an ad in the Sunday New York Times. The patent department of GlaxoSmithKline (then SmithKline Corp.), where Suter had previously worked as a medicinal chemist between graduate school programs, was looking for trainees. The patent department would pay for qualified chemists to attend law school at night.
“A patent application is basically a chemistry paper,” he explained. The department needed attorneys who would be able to understand the science and translate the work of researchers into a patent filing.
While working as a patent administrator and later patent agent, Suter went to law school and graduated from Temple University with his J.D. in 1976. He worked for GlaxoSmithKline as a patent attorney for 20 years, retiring in 1996 as Vice President and Patent Counsel. Following retirement, he went into consulting, assisting smaller companies without their own patent offices.
Suter, who received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Bridgewater College in 2004, established the Dr. Stuart R. Suter Endowed Scholarship Fund at the College in 2014. The scholarship is awarded annually to a junior chemistry major with an interest in research.
“I felt I needed to share that back,” he said. “I wanted to help someone else get the same start [that I had].”
Reflecting on his time at Bridgewater, Suter fondly remembered learning from and doing research with chemistry professors Dr. John Martin and Dr. Lowell Heisey. He recalled Martin receiving a grant from the National Science Foundation that enabled him to bring high school students from rural areas without a lot of resources to study at BC during the summer. The students stayed in the residence halls for a month, and Suter helped run the labs during the day. Suter also recalled helping Heisey research making new organic compounds during the summer.
“Bridgewater is a unique place,” he commented. “The students have a great four-year experience.”
Hoping to enhance and further that experience, he established the Dr. Stuart R. Suter Funds for the School of Natural Sciences in 2023. In the coming year, the Suter Funds will purchase chemistry equipment that will be used by faculty in their research and in the lab with students.
Suter sees this as a continuation of the work he did alongside Martin in the summer many years ago—connecting students with resources and setting them up for success in the future.
– Olivia Shifflett
Bridgewater magazine, spring/summer 2024
