Percy L. Julian overcame the prejudices and discriminations of his time to become a pathbreaking synthetic chemist, successful industrial research director, and wealthy businessman. Born in Montgomery, Ala., on April 11, 1899, the son of a U.S. railway postal clerk and the grandson of slaves, he excelled in school despite the absence of a public high school for African Americans there and entered DePauw University in 1916 as a sub-freshman, while also taking classes at Greencastle High School. He graduated in 1920 as valedictorian of his DePauw class and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Because of his race, he found it impossible to continue graduate work in chemistry, then taught at Fisk University, earned an Austin Fellowship to Harvard, and received his M.A. degree in 1923, but again found no job offer forthcoming. He later served at West Virginia State College and, in 1928, became head of the department of chemistry at Howard University. A Rockefeller Foundation grant enabled him to study natural products chemistry with Ernst Spath at the University of Vienna, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1931. Returning to Howard with Josef Pikl, he left after two years because of internal politics and in 1933 returned to DePauw as a research fellow through the efforts of William Blanchard. There, in Minshall Laboratory in 1935, he and Pikl completed the research that resulted in the total synthesis of physostigmine, establishing Julian's reputation as a world-renowned chemist at age 36. Still denied a faculty position at DePauw, he turned to industry and in 1936 became director of research for soya products for the Glidden Company in Chicago. Over the next 18 years, his soybean protein research produced numerous patents and successful products, including a paper coating and a fire-retardant foam used widely in WW II to extinguish gasoline fires on aircraft carriers. His biomedical research made possible the low-cost production of large quantities of synthetic progesterone and hydrocortisone. In 1953 he established the successful Julian Laboratories and later formed the nonprofit Julian Research Institute. His honors included election to the National Academy of Sciences in 1973, recognition by the United States Postal Service with a Julian stamp issued in January 1993, and honorary degrees from 18 universities. He was active in many civic, social, and religious organizations. DePauw named its science and mathematics center in his honor in 1980. Percy L. Julian married Miss Anna Johnson of Baltimore, Md., on December 24, 1935, in Spencer, Ind.; they had two children, Percy Jr. and Faith Julian. He died on April 19, 1975, and the family home is in Oak Park, Illinois.