Dr. Richard Merrill Scribner

Dr. Richard Merrill Scribner (Age 96), of Willow Street, PA, passed away on Thursday, February 12th, 2026. His beloved wife of 60 years, Agnes Kassouni Scribner, preceded him in death in 2019. Their son, Daniel Kassouni Scribner, also preceded him in death in 2025. He is survived by their son, David Merrill Scribner, by his grandchildren: James Wright, Jessica (Tim) Schmitz, Daniel (Lauren) Scribner, Kristen (Allison) Scribner, Michael Scribner, Daniella Scribner, and Demi Scribner, and by his great grandchildren: Elizabeth Schmitz, Robert Schmitz, Sophia Scribner, Ryan Scribner and Isabelle Schmitz.

Richard was born in Buffalo, NY, the son of Chester R. and Dorothy B. Scribner. When he was about 14 years old, he became fascinated by chemistry because, as he said, “you could make things that never existed before”. In spite of advice from others who said that he was too young for a chemistry set, his mother listened to his pleading and bought him a chemistry set. In doing so, she helped launch his professional career.

In high school he started two small after-school businesses: delivering newspapers and spraying neighbors’ lawns with what was then a new weed killer. With the money earned, he bought laboratory glassware and more chemicals. To the day he died he bore scars from experiments carried out in the basement of his home. Luckily, his attempts to make nitroglycerin stopped when more mature judgement set in. Always dedicated to his studies, he became a member of the National Honor Society, and in his senior year he wrote a thesis entitled “Boron and Its Potentialities.”

Thanks to his great uncle, Frederick Merrill, who financed Richard’s undergraduate studies, Richard attended the University of Michigan, earning a B.S. in Chemistry and receiving the Moses Gomberg Award for Scholarship in Chemistry. To supplement his income, he waited on tables and peeled potatoes for his fraternity. Since then, he ate very few potatoes.

In 1951, he began graduate studies at the University of Minnesota where, with a National Science Foundation fellowship won by competitive exams, he worked as a Teaching Fellow. After 4 years he graduated with a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry.

For 28 years he worked as a research chemist for E.I. DuPont de Nemours in Wilmington, DE, publishing numerous scientific papers. His chemical inventions resulted in 33 U.S. patents and many more foreign equivalents. One was designated by the U.S. Patent Office as a Pioneering Invention, of which he was very proud. He often traveled for DuPont giving lectures on his research.

After moving to Delaware, he met and married the love of his life, Agnes Manuel Kassouni, a beautiful Armenian girl and a beautiful person, from the island of Cyprus. They met at church, singing in the choir, and stayed involved in the choir at church into their old age. Before moving to Willow Valley, they lived together in Wilmington, DE and spent their summers in Canaan, NH.

Richard had many hobbies, including carpentry, gardening, genealogy, photography, singing, and training the family dogs. He ran and completed the NY marathon at 50 years old, used his cabinet making skills to finish the interior of their summer home on the shore of Canaan Street Lake, and published two editions of “Our Scribner Family” to provide a view for future generations into the family’s history. While living at Willow Valley, he pursued his passion for photography, presenting several 90-minute audio-video shows and displaying his pictures for fellow residents to enjoy. The most notable of these shows was, “One More Birthday and Safari So Good,” documenting a safari he took for his 79th birthday.

At his request, there will be no funeral or memorial services. His and his wife’s remains will be buried side by side in the UCC cemetery in Willow Street. Many thanks to the Willow Valley Communities for enhancing the qualify of life of this busy man who could no longer remain so busy as he grew older.

In lieu of flowers, if you would like to honor Richard’s life, please consider a donation to Doctors Without Borders, a non-profit organization that he passionately supported, Doctors Without Borders USA, P.O. 5023, Hagerstown, MD 21741-5023.

Doctors Without Borders

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