Marvin Hart Mahan, 91, of St. Petersburg, died peacefully Oct. 30, 2011. Born in Carlinville, IL. Mr. Mahan lived and worked in New Jersey before retiring to Florida 25 years ago. He was orphaned by age 12, and taken in by extended family before putting himself through Blackburn College and graduated from the University of Illinois with a BS in Chemistry. He was ultimately acknowledged with an Honorary PhD in Chemistry for his many contributions in the field of Chemistry and the Bio-Sciences.

He began his working career at Standard Oil, now Exxon. He was the truest of entrepreneurs. With his vision towards the re-use of chemical bi-products, he was at least 20 plus years ahead of the times with what is known today as recycling and the green movement, starting with development of synthetic rubber products for the WWII effort, non-stick Teflon coating applications, to recycled plastic wood (ie:Trex), paint products, and numerous stone aggregate businesses.