From Melon Fields to Moon Rocks. Dianna Borsi O'Brien
From Melon Fields to Moon Rocks
by
Dianna Borsi O'Brien
Charles W. Gehrke, better known as Dr. Gehrke in the halls of ABC Laboratories was a relentless individual, always looking for new/better ways, better science and never settling for a simple no or can’t as the answer. Dianna Borsi O’Brien captures the man and his passion for science and shares Charles’s story from a different perspective; the husband, father, friend and colleague and how his love of science was interwoven into his life.
Dr. Charles W. Gehrke’s contributions to science are still reflected almost five decades later in many of the processes and science still in use in developing better life saving drugs and safer food supplies.
In this biography, his family life, work and career are all laid before us, in a work that is the accurate, concise, revealing the “chemistry” that made this man special. Anyone who thinks they know Dr. Gehrke’s story should read this book to truly understand the man’s contribution not only to science, but his legacy to family, the Columbia, Missouri community and beyond.
— John Bucksath, joined ABC Labs in 1989, and served as president/CEO from 2012-2015
Scientist/business entrepreneur Charles Gehrke achieved renown while based in Columbia, Missouri. Writer Dianna O’Brien used her total access to produce an excellent account of a meaningful life.
— Steve Weinberg, author of six books including two biographies
Dr. Gehrke was a one of a kind who had managed to rise above his humble beginnings to international stature in his chosen field. This biography highlights Dr. Gehrke’s main legacy to Columbia, Missouri, in founding a successful company, ABC Laboratories, but also reveals his ego as well as his ambition. The book delves into some of the behind the scenes maneuvers, some of which will sound familiar to anyone acquainted with the actions of innovators and entrepreneurs, especially when they are confronted with barriers to success.
The author, Dianna Borsi O’Brien, does a good job of explaining the science behind this man’s thinking without dwelling too much on the details and delivers a biography that shows that it often takes a strong-willed person to push through various roadblocks to achieve the desired result, which in this case is science and a company that has stood the test of time.
The result is a book that shows how in many issues in his life Charles W. Gehrke either created conflict or solved problems, depending upon your point of view, bringing honor as well as notoriety to Columbia, Missouri, and the University of Missouri.
— Don Laird, president of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce 1988-2013
From Melon Fields to Moon Rocks
The adventurous life of biochemist and entrepreneur Charles W. Gehrke 1917 – 2009
Copyright © 2017 Dianna Borsi O’Brien.
First Edition, March 2017
Published in eBook format by Compass Flower Press
an imprint of AKA-Publishing
Columbia, Missouri
Converted by http://www.eBookIt.com
Also available in Trade Paperback and Dust-jacketed Hardback.
ISBN-13: 978-1-9421-6871-3 eBook
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means without written permission in advance from the author.
All photographs were provided by Charles W. Gehrke. In cases where it came to light that a photograph was previously published, the author sought reprint permission as noted. If prepublication of any other photographs come to light, the author is willing to make reasonable arrangements to acknowledge copyright in subsequent printings.
Designed by Ginny Booker, Columbia, Missouri
Compass Flower Press
an imprint of AKA-Publishing
Columbia, Missouri
DEDICATION
To the ladies and family who helped me.
To my beloved Virginia who supported and encouraged me all the way, I miss her so deeply.
To Dianna Borsi O’Brien who was so patient with me for a year in listening and writing this story.
And finally, to Jon and Susan, my living children, who encouraged me to tell my life story.
Charles W. Gehrke
April 23, 2008
Introduction
How did this book come about?
The first time I heard about Charles W. Gehrke was when his son Jon Gehrke called me. He said he and his sister Susan Gehrke Isaacson were looking for a writer to work with his father to write a book about his life. His father, he said, had been planning on writing a book about his life for years, but now it was time to get started. They’d just buried their mother, Charles’s wife, who had died on their sixty-fifth wedding anniversary. They even had a title for the book, he said, “From the Melon Fields to the Moon.”
The fact that they cared enough to make this kind of call seemed interesting, so I asked him a question any crusty journalist like myself would ask, what made him think his father deserved a book about his life?
Well, Jon explained, his father had come from a tough background, very poor, but had gone on to found a successful company, ABC Labs. Perhaps it’s that I’m a journalist and I’m used to hearing stories like that, of people coming from tough times and going on to success. Or perhaps it’s because I’m a long-time resident of Columbia, Missouri, home to a major university and two colleges, and I’ve grown accustomed to hearing about people who have done amazing things like founding their own successful companies. Even Jon’s mention of his father’s NASA work wasn’t surprising, by this time NASA spaceflights felt commonplace. Then it dawned on me, it was his son calling, and I thought about how many famous people had troubled families, estranged children or worse, situations where the children never would have made a call asking a writer to take on the project.
Then I began to listen.
It also dawned on me what he’d told me already, his father had just buried his wife of sixty-five years. That’s when it hit me: Here’s a surprising story, a story of a family man, who loved his wife, and had children willing to find a writer to work with him. And he’d founded a major company that was still going strong.
Still I had reservations. I didn’t want to work with someone who was writing a book just to make his children happy. I told Jon I’d be willing to meet with his dad—if he called me himself. I didn’t want to work on a project with a reluctant participant.
After doing a little research on Charles W. Gehrke and ABC Labs, I put the project out of mind, thinking Charles would either call or he wouldn’t. What I’d learned was impressive, but I didn’t want to prod someone into writing a book he didn’t want to write. I wanted to work with someone as devoted to a project as I’d be.
Little did I know that I’d met my match.
Charles finally called and asked me if I wanted to meet him at a nearby restaurant. I arrived a little nervous. I wasn’t sure if he’d accept my going rates or whether he’d be the kind of person I wanted to work with. If I was going to spend some time on this project, I wanted to work for someone I could work with—not someone I’d always be working for. Nor was I willing to write a book with just the facts the subject wanted people to know and not the whole story.
Charles was a delight at that lunch and at every other meeting we had in the two years