Robert E. Langan helped give salad dressings their creaminess, canned chips their uniform shape and fruit roll-ups their rubbery chew as a food technologist with companies including National Starch and Chemical Corp.
Mr. Langan, 84, died of a ruptured aneurysm Monday, April 6, in his Wilmette home, said his daughter, Patricia.
Skilled in the science of manipulating the taste and feel of processed foods, Mr. Langan started his career with Victor Chemical Works in Chicago, where his projects included work on a fluoridated toothpaste, his daughter said.
He subsequently spent many years at Corn Products International in Bedford Park, working briefly in Connecticut during the 1970s. From 1978 to his retirement in the late 1990s, he was a technical service manager at National Starch and Chemical.
“He was notorious at being sort of a mad scientist. He loved working on new products,” said Liz Knight, a colleague at National Starch and Chemical. “He was considered the national expert on starches.”
Working with companies such as Kraft and General Mills, Mr. Langan had a hand in the development of a myriad of food products, including new hard-candy flavors and starches used to feed fruit flies kept by farmers to pollinate fruit trees.
“Dad would bring the coolest foods home,” his daughter said. “I had Space Food Sticks before anyone else had them.”
At National Starch and Chemical, he was a liaison between the laboratory and the sales staff and saw products his company developed through to the time they hit store shelves.
“What differentiated Bob is he loved to go and visit the plant and run trials and work with the guys in the factory,” said Jim Tracy, director of distributors with National Starch and Chemical. “He made the transition from pure science to the practical side of going to the plant and making it work.”
Mr. Langan grew up in Chicago’s Chatham neighborhood and graduated from De La Salle Institute. During World War II, he was a bombardier aboard B-17s over Europe, his daughter said.
He received a bachelor’s degree from St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, and a master’s in chemistry from the University of Illinois.
Toward the end of his career, he worked on a joint venture in Mexico and grew to love the country. Ever convivial, he struck up a rapport with the bartender at a Marriott hotel in Mexico City, who named a tequila-based drink after him.
For many years, Mr. Langan sailed a 28-foot Catalina sailboat named Elan out of Wilmette Harbor. He was also a proficient handyman and helped neighbors out of many a jam.
“He fixed our frozen pipes, our sump pump,” said neighbor Susie Healey. “I think he knew our basement better than me and my husband did.”
Mr. Langan, possessed of the thrift common among those who grew up during the Depression, was a master recycler of items deemed disposable by neighbors.
When he wanted better air circulation in a shed he had built, a kitchen exhaust fan that had been lying around for about seven years did the trick.
A friend once spotted a box in Mr. Langan’s home labeled, “Strings too short to save.”
Mr. Langan’s wife, Patricia, died in 2006. In addition to his daughter, he is survived by a sister, Eileen Condon.
Visitation is set for 4 to 9 p.m. Monday in Donnellan Family Funeral Home, 10045 Skokie Blvd., Skokie. Mass will be said at 10 a.m. Tuesday in St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, 524 9th St., Wilmette.
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ttjensen@tribune.com
