Shelton Bank of Oak Lane in West Tisbury died suddenly on Jan. 12 while visiting his children in Oakland, Ca. He was 76. Shelton and his wife of 51 years, Janet, have lived in West Tisbury since 1991, moving here from the Albany, N.Y. area. Shelton was active in town affairs; he served on the library board, was chairman of the town energy committee, was the town representative for the Cape Light Compact, a member of the open space committee, a member of the cultural council and volunteered as a computer instructor at the Up-Island Council on Aging at Howes House.

Shelton Bank was born in the Bronx, N.Y., on Jan. 28, 1932. He received his bachelor of science degree from Brooklyn College and then served for two years the U.S. Army doing weather research in Arizona. His Ph.D. in chemistry was from Purdue University, studying under the Nobel Prize winner Dr. Herbert C. Brown, and then subsequently serving as a post-doctoral research assistant with Dr. Paul Bartlett at Harvard University. In 1961 he joined the Esso Research and Engineering Company (now Exxon-Mobil) where he became a project leader in 1964.

Shelton was professor emeritus of the State University of New York at Albany where he had taught since 1966. His research interests covered a range that included solution and solid state NMR spectroscopy of metal ions, clays, molecular and macromolecular complexes, neurotoxins, metabolic and fermentation pathways, environmental pollutants and organic reaction mechanisms. He published 84 papers and was awarded two patents.

During that time, he served as president of the Chemical Education Division of the American Chemical Society and received the State University of New York chancellor’s award for excellence in teaching. Shelton was mentor to a number of undergraduate and graduate students who went on to become chemistry professors themselves. In 1995 he and Janet published a book for students titled A Thousand and One Ways to Pass Organic Chemistry, and named their sailboat 1001.

After his retirement in 1997, Shelton enjoyed an active life in West Tisbury, swimming, cycling, sailing and walking the beaches. He was a regular at Megan Grennan’s yoga class, where he inspired other students as a real-life example that yoga can be practiced at any age. He was surrounded by a large community of friends with whom he shared his love of life and ideas. He was a devoted husband, father and grandfather. He is survived by his son, Todd, daughter Brigeda and her partner, Katie Fox; two grandchildren, Madeline and Jacob; and by his brother and sister in law, Alex and Rosalind Bank, and many nieces and nephews.

A memorial service to honor and celebrate Shelton’s life is being planned for June. Donations in his memory may be made to The Vineyard Energy Project, P.O. Box 1077, West Tisbury.