Head and shoulders image of Dr. James M. Pepper, Professor of Chemistry.

Bio/Historical Note: Dr. James Morley (Jim) Pepper was born 30 March 1920 in Morse, Saskatchewan. His family moved to Victoria, British Columbia, in 1930 where he attended high school. He received a BSc (1939) and an MSc (1941) from the University of British Columbia. Dr. Pepper earned a PhD from McGill University in 1943. Following graduation he began his career in 1945 at the Dominion Rubber Research Laboratories in Guelph, Ontario but in July, 1947 accepted a position of associate professor of Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan. He was promoted to professor in 1955, serving as department head from 1970-1976. Dr. Pepper retired in 1986. Dr. Pepper’s research interests centred on wood chemistry, focusing on research involving the isolation, structure and potential chemical utilization of the lignin component and liquefaction of wood as an alternative energy source. He published numerous papers in this area before retiring from the department in 1985. Dr. Pepper was married to Thelma Pepper (1920-2020) for 58 years; he supported and assisted Thelma's widely recognized work in photography. Jim Pepper died in May 2012 in Saskatoon at age 92.