— 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 long-standing 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 First Baptist Church of North Augusta, where he embarked on mission trips to Tanzania.