— LISTEE'S SPOTLIGHT —

Dr. Leonard Wesley Gray, a pivotal figure in chemistry for over 50 years, retired as the chief scientist of the U.S.-Russian Plutonium Disposition Program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 2006. In his post-retirement years, he continued working part-time as a mentor for emerging scientists and engineers and documenting information on the Worldwide Processing of Plutonium, retiring fully in 2021. During his longstanding career, he was distinguished for heading the chemistry section of the Laser Isotope Separations Program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, having previously worked as a staff chemist at the Savannah River National Laboratory, where he developed processes to recover plutonium from the scrap stockpile and reactor fuel that was declared non-processable. Notably, the programs returned plutonium from the scrap heap to the weapons foundry – three of the four plutonium programs that sent Russia into bankruptcy and aided in ceasing the Cold War. Holding a Doctor of Philosophy in inorganic chemistry from the University of South Carolina, he earned the Glenn T. Seaborg Actinide Separation Award in 2002. He is a member of Gideons International and a past member of the deacon board of the Baptist Church of North Augusta, where he embarked on mission trips to Tanzania.