Richard E. RebbertNIST Chemist, Educator
Richard E. Rebbert, 78, a chemist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and a former Georgetown University professor, died Oct. 19 of congestive heart failure at Greenspring Village, an assisted living facility in Springfield. He had lived in Washington until February.
Dr. Rebbert was born in Baltimore and graduated from Loyola College in Baltimore. He received a doctorate in physical chemistry from Catholic University in 1952.
He did postdoctoral research at the Canadian National Research Council in Ottawa in the early 1950s and, in 1953, became a research chemist at Ethyl Corp. in Detroit.
In 1955, Dr. Rebbert came to Washington to teach at Georgetown. He taught undergraduate and graduate courses and was acting chairman of the Chemistry Department in 1955 and 1956.
In 1961, he became a research chemist with the chemical thermodynamics division at the former National Bureau of Standards (now NIST). In the early 1980s, he transferred to the analytical chemistry division.
Among his achievements, he helped develop helium and neon resonance lamps, which were used in photochemical research. He also did work on ozone depletion, standards for recycled lubricating oils and methods for determining the concentrations of organic compounds.
After retiring from NIST in 1992, Dr. Rebbert taught chemistry at Montgomery College in Takoma Park.
He was a member of Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church in Washington, where he did volunteer work. He also volunteered at the pastoral care office of Georgetown University Hospital and for Meals on Wheels.
His interests included bird-watching, photography, wine and gardening. He studied genealogy and participated in a National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration citizen weather project, recording temperatures and precipitation in his back yard for many years.
He often attended reunions with members of his first-grade class at St. Mary Star of the Sea School in Baltimore.
His wife of 52 years, Alicia C. Rebbert, died in January.
Survivors include four children, Maria A. Rebbert of Hillsdale, Mich., Richard F. Rebbert of Fredericksburg, Alicia R. Gore of Los Alamos, N.M., and Carolyn R. Rebbert of Stamford, Conn.; three sisters, Florence A. Best and Catherine M. Folderauer of Towson, Md., and Helen L. Kern of Ellicott City; and four grandchildren.
