{"id":2324,"date":"2016-08-30T12:39:52","date_gmt":"2016-08-30T16:39:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/?p=2324"},"modified":"2025-01-28T09:18:49","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T14:18:49","slug":"good-chemistry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/2016\/08\/good-chemistry\/","title":{"rendered":"Good Chemistry"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A lasting legacy from the 53-year marriage of Sylvia and Tom Tencza, M.S. \u201964\/Ph.D. \u201966.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As a biochemist, the late Tom Tencza, M.S. \u201964\/ Ph.D \u201966 left a lasting mark by helping to create products such as Excedrin, Bufferin and NoDoz when he was senior director of product development at Bristol-Myers Squibb.<\/p>\n

Now, he and his widow, Sylvia, will leave another enduring legacy: a seven-figure commitment to the University that, upon her passing, will become the first endowed chair for the chemistry department from which he graduated a half-century ago.<\/p>\n

Behind that commitment lies the story of a son of working-class Polish immigrants who \u201chad a deep love for Seton Hall,\u201d says Sylvia Tencza. \u201cHe used to say, \u2018What I am today is because of Seton Hall.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Sitting in her kitchen serving coffee and sweets to a visitor, Sylvia talked of \u201ca classy gentleman\u201d whom she met through a cousin. The introduction came after Tencza<\/span> returned in 1956 from Army duty in Japan, where he taught meteorology to Japanese nationals. A few months later she was wearing his class ring (from Columbia University, where he got a bachelor\u2019s degree in organic chemistry) and was told: \u201cWhen I go steady, I mean that marriage is my end point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tencza\u2019s integrity translated to his work life as well. In his first job, as a young researcher, he refused to falsify numbers on certain biochemical compounds he assayed, even when his superiors ordered him to do so, says his wife of 53 years. \u201cHe was a man of principle, part of his deep Catholic faith,\u201d she says, \u201cand shortly after, he quit that company.\u201d The company no longer exists.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tencza, who died in 2012 at the age of 80, was known at Bristol-Myers as a man who \u201cled by example,\u201d according to Ara Nersesian, who was in charge of toiletries development at the company and worked with Tencza for close to 40 years. \u201cTom took care of his staff and was very encouraging,\u201d says Nersesian. \u201cHe was a great scientist and empowered his people to develop new products.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tencza, who was proud of the Polish heritage he and Sylvia shared, was the first person in his family to earn a college degree. His pride in all things Polish motivated him to serve as a longtime member of the Chopin Singing Society, a 100-year-old choir that sings English and ethnic songs during performances in the heavily Polish Wallington, N.J., area. He spent his teen summers helping his father and brother in the family masonry business, \u201cmixing cement and carrying cinder blocks\u201d until, as Sylvia tells the story, \u201chis father said, \u2018This work is not for you, sonny boy.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What was for him was chemistry. And that passion led him to enter the University\u2019s inaugural class of chemistry Ph.D. candidates, which required his taking a one-year leave from Bristol-Myers to complete. It was a decision that paid off handsomely in laying the groundwork for his remarkable professional success at the company. <\/span><\/p>\n

Tencza was a man with many interests. An avid gardener, \u201che loved to see things grow from seed,\u201d Sylvia recalls. A natural instructor who Sylvia says would have made a fine teacher, Tencza will ultimately help further the education of students in a field he loved. \u201cHe always wanted to do something that would make a difference
\nin the chemistry department at Seton Hall,\u201d Sylvia noted. And, over time, he and Sylvia will. Thanks to their
\ngenerosity, The Thomas M. Tencza Chair in Chemistry will help underwrite a portion of the salary of a professor of chemistry at the University in addition to supporting research and other priorities in the department.<\/p>\n

If University officials convince Mrs. Tencza, it might be called the Thomas M. and Sylvia T. Tencza Chair. But the habitually modest Sylvia isn\u2019t budging so far. \u201cI want Tom to get the maximum credit,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

By Bob Gilbert<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A lasting legacy from the 53-year marriage of Sylvia and Tom Tencza, M.S. \u201964\/Ph.D. \u201966.<\/p>\n

Continue ReadingGood Chemistry<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3428,"featured_media":2346,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,258,17],"tags":[81,82,83],"class_list":["post-2324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-articles-2015-2019","category-scholarship","tag-chemistry","tag-donor","tag-tencza","entry"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3428"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2324"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2375,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2324\/revisions\/2375"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}