John Oliver McLean, a PhD in chemical engineering from MIT. This picture was a part of a Richmond Times article about him and his business published in 1983. He was a very modest and honest man. He did not want to be known for being a doctor in chemistry, but rather for his love for automobiles and the opera. He was a very particular person, a stickler for order and perfection and not very easy to please. John never retired and never stopped working. He was born October 14th, 1911 in Adams, Massachusetts and died March 9th, 2002 at his home on the James River in Richmond, Virginia. He was ninety years old.

 

Brian’s greatest memory of John was the time spent in John’s basement puzzling over how to make the MacCLEAN Iron System work. For the last few years of John’s life Brian was able to experience how much he and John were alike when it came down to being a water treatment scientist. Brian said, “We were always very good friends, but for the first time in our lives we were collaborators on a point of great personal interest for the both of us. It was great to see John so excited to be on the verge of another water treatment discovery.”

 

It was that time when Brian invented the McCoy Iron Removal System. John marveled over Brian’s invention but did not live long enough to see Brian receive the patent.