Charles Alvin Wentz Jr.

October 12, 1935 - June 21, 2018

Charles Alvin Wentz, Jr., age 82, of Edwardsville died on June 21,2018. He married Joan Domigan on August 6, 1983. He was born on October 12, 1935 in Edwardsville, the son of the late Charles Alvin Wentz, Sr. and Frances Margaret (Bohm) Wentz. He is survived by one son, Christopher Wentz and three daughters: Sharon Evans, Suzanne Cook, and Sheila Wentz all of Texas; five grandchildren;, a sister-in-law, Candy Wentz, and a nephew, Edward Bohm Wentz, Jr. of Edwardsville. He was preceded in death by a brother, Edward Wentz, Sr. of Edwardsville Raised in Edwardsville, a member of the Dirty Dozen EHS class of 1953, he attended MS&T, receiving a degree in chemical engineering and a PhD in chemical engineering from Northwestern University. He was employed by Phillips Petroleum, president of New park Waste Treatment Systems, the University of North Dakota, and president of ENS CO. He held patents in the chemical and polymer fields. He was president of Wentz Healthcare and International Scientific Management, and managed environmental research at Argonne National Laboratory. He authored several college textbooks in environmental and safety engineering; was a visiting professor at SIUE and associate dean at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand. He graduated from the Sloan School for Senior Executives at MIT and also earned an MBA from SIUE. He published numerous technical and business papers. He served on the board of the Edwardsville Community Foundation, the Lincoln School Alumni Foundation, Lessie Bates Davis Neighborhood House, the MS&T Academy of Chemical Engineers, and the MS&T Alpha Kappa Educational Foundation. He was a member of numerous professional organizations including a lifetime member and VP of the Edwardsville NAACP branch. He served on the advisory board to the SIUE, Dean of Engineering, and was on the business school Dean's Society. He was a member of St. John's United Methodist Church in Edwardsville. Dr. Wentz established many college and vocational scholarships at Edwardsville High School, Missouri S & T, SIDE, area churches and East St. Louis High School. He enjoyed dancing, bridge, pinochle, old movies, spectator sports, gardening, hunting, fishing, and traveling. An avid chef, he held a certificate in Culinary Arts from SWIC, published several gourmet cookbooks and donated gourmet dinners to charity. Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday, June 25, 2018 at at Weber & Rodney Funeral Home in Edwardsville. Funeral services will be at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 26, 2018 at St. John's United Methodist Church in Edwardsville. Interment will be at Woodlawn Gardens Cemetery in Edwardsville. Memorials are suggested to the Dirty Dozen or Charles Alvin Wentz, Jr. Family scholarship funds at the Edwardsville Community Foundation, P.O. Box 102, Edwardsville, IL 62025 or St. John's United Methodist Church, 7372 Marine Road, Edwardsville, IL 62025.