© Estate of John W. McCoy. Photograph and digital image © Delaware Art Museum. Not for reproduc…

Wesley Memeger

American painter, 1939–2024

BiographyBorn in Riverdale, Florida in 1939, Wesley Memeger received an undergraduate degree from Clark Atlanta University and a doctorate in chemistry from Adelphi University in New York in 1966. When he joined DuPont in Delaware in 1964, Memeger was only the fourth African American with a PhD in chemistry to join the company. He holds 14 patents and his work on products like Kevlar is well known and celebrated.

Memeger had a passion for art throughout his career in chemistry. In his early career as a scientist, he analyzed the skewed bonds in an almost square carbon and hydrogen compound. That interest in the square continued for decades. As an artist, Memeger studied the works of abstract painters, reading and viewing their considerations of the basic and ubiquitous shape. Memeger has exhibited his drawings, paintings, and sculptural works throughout the greater Delaware region. Additionally, Memeger has served on numerous boards, including the Delaware Art Museum and the Delaware Criminal Justice Council. In 2007, he was honored with Christina Cultural Arts Center’s Christi Award for Outstanding Philanthropic Activity.

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