Isadore Rosenthal, expert on chemical, environmental safety

Isadore "Irv" Rosenthal, 87, an expert on chemical and environmental safety who served on the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, died Sunday, Feb. 10, of pneumonia at Pennswood Village, a retirement community in Newtown, Bucks County.

Mr. Rosenthal, a longtime resident of Levittown, worked for 38 years at Rohm & Haas Co. in a variety of positions. He was corporate director of safety, health, environmental affairs, and product integrity for the last 13 years of his career at the Philadelphia-based company.

In this post, he was involved in the company's program to control hazards and risks in its products and facilities.

From 1998 to 2003, Mr. Rosenthal served as one of the first members of the Chemical Safety Board, an independent federal agency charged with investigating industrial chemical accidents. He was appointed to the panel by President Bill Clinton.

Mr. Rosenthal was born on June 10, 1925, in New York City. He was educated at New York University, Purdue University, and Pennsylvania State University, where he earned a doctorate in physical chemistry.

During World War II, he served in the Army as a telegraph operator in the China-Burma-India theater.

After retiring from Rohm & Haas in 1990, Mr. Rosenthal became a senior researcher at the Risk Management and Decision Processes Center at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. There he taught a course on "The Environment and the Firm."

He was a consultant to a variety of companies and institutions. Mr. Rosenthal served on the Executive Committee of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Reactivity Management Roundtable.

His son-in-law, Arthur Read, said Mr. Rosenthal enjoyed making home repairs and renovations.

"He liked to build things," Read said. "He built a deck on his daughter's home, and he built additions on his own home in Levittown."

Read said Mr. Rosenthal continued to write scholarly articles throughout his retirement years.

He was married three times. His wives were the late Corrine, Janice, and Judith Rosenthal.

Mr. Rosenthal is survived by daughters Cindy and Leslie; sons Richard and Seth; nine stepchildren; four grandchildren; a sister; and a brother.

A funeral is scheduled for 1 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 14, at Goldsteins' Rosenberg's Raphael-Sacks Suburban North, 310 Second Street Pike, Southampton. Interment will be in King David Memorial Park, Bensalem.