Eugenio Bulgarelli

Eugenio Bulgarelli, age 88, of Raleigh, NC passed away after a long illness. He is survived by his two daughters and their spouses: Mary-Theresa and Don Madill of Leavenworth, Kansas and Susan and Don Bobo of Raleigh, NC. His three grandchildren include Miriam Madill of Dallas, Texas, Angela Burgess and husband, Andrew of Phoenix, Arizona and Luke Bobo of Raleigh, NC. His great-granddaughter is Emma Burgess of Phoenix, Arizona. He is predeceased by his wife of 45 years, Caterina Bulgarelli of New York, NY. Eugenio was born in Italy, where he grew up and where, after high school and university, he attained a doctorate in Chemistry in 1948. He was hired by the Italian chemical giant Montecatini which then handled the majority of Italian chemical business. Among his accomplishments as a chemist was the invention of a process for preparing Ethylene Oxide used to make Ethylene Glycol (antifreeze in cooling and heating systems), by catalytic oxidation of Ethylene with a Halogen promoted silver catalyst. He and his colleague, Dr. Endler, a German scientist from Berlin, invented this patented process which is in the list of US patents filed on November 4, 1958. In 1960, he was sent by Montecatini to the US to help build a polypropylene plant in Neal, West Virginia. There was only one competitive polypropylene plant operating in the US at that time. The plant was built according to industrial standards and polypropylene took off to become one of the top commodity resins in the world today. In mid 1979, the US Steele Corporation bought the Neal, WV plant and he was retained as a technical service manager, a position which he held until his retirement in 1988. Immediately after, he was hired as a consultant by a Japanese company that was expanding its polypropylene business in China and other nations in the Far East Asian continent. He worked with this company until 2000. Eugenio has been an active member of St. Raphael's Church as Sacristan parishioner since 1996. As a loving father, grandfather, husband and friend, he will be profoundly missed by all. The family will receive friends Tuesday, July 26, at St. Raphael's Church, at 11:00 a.m. A funeral Mass will immediately follow at 12:00 noon at the Church. Interment to follow at Raleigh Memorial Park. Memorial contributions may be made to Wake County Hospice House, 200 Hospice Circle, Raleigh 27607.

Eugenio Bulgarelli

April 7, 1923 - July 22, 2011