Joseph Charles Shediack, Jr.

Joseph C. Shediack, Jr., a resident of Lawrenceville, GA passed from this life into Heaven on May 7, 2013. Joe, born on July 2, 1929 in Fall River, MA, was the first son of the late Joseph C. and Ida Nassar Shediack. Joe is survived by his wife, Myrle Leamy Shediack, to whom he was married for 61 years; his son Joseph C. Shediack III and his wife Marilyn of East Brunswick, NJ; his son Patrick D. Shediack and his wife Sylvia of Dayton, OH; his daughter Nancy C. Gates and her husband Jeff of Lawrenceville, GA; and his brother George Shediack of Fall River, MA. Joe is also survived by his six grandchildren: Patrick D. Shediack, Jr. of Springfield, OH; Anne C. Shediack of Bayonne, NJ; Technical Sergeant Joseph C. Shediack IV and his wife Loribel of Hickam Air Force Base, HI; Christine M. Shediack of Springfield, OH; Keith W. James and Matthew D. James of Lawrenceville, GA. He also leaves nine great-grandchildren to follow in his footsteps: Savannah Shediack, Rylee Shediack, Kirstan Shediack, Ryder Shediack, Christopher Fulton, Jr., Grace Fulton and Faith Fulton, all of Springfield, OH as well as Arianna and Juliana Pinella of Bayonne, NJ. He is also survived by numerous cousins, nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews. Joe was predeceased by his infant son William 1953, his siblings, Eva S. Greene 2013 and Charles G. Shediack 2007, his nephew Water G. Barr, M.D. 2008 and his grand-niece Maria C. Barr 2011. Joe graduated from Durfee High School, Fall River, MA in 1947 and the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA in 1951 with a B.S. in Chemistry. Joe worked for over 50 years as a chemist and food scientist specializing as a flavorist for foods, beverages and pharmaceuticals as well as fragrances for perfumes. He combined his work ethic with his humanitarian concerns throughout his career. One of his flavoring products, created after a two year research and development effort, resulted in a strong grape candy flavor for Children's Dimetapp, a cough and cold remedy, solving a long standing problem for parents and pediatricians of children refusing to swallow the predecessor product due to its overpowering medicinal taste. During the mid-1980s, the Federal government requested his assistance in developing a flavor to overpower the gasoline-like taste and smell of AZT, a drug then used in clinical trials for treating the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. When the government researchers first asked how he would overcome this problem, Joe gave them a simple professional answer that later proved true: "Smother it with strawberry." During the 1990s and 2000s, the Food and Drug Administration called upon him several times for expert advice on counterfeit artificial flavors, especially in the area of deceptive products sold as natural maple syrup. His April 1995 article in Cereal Foods World Magazine, "The Making of a Flavorist", written to encourage new chemists to enter a career in flavors, is now a reference paper in both the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Library and the United Nations Food and Agriculture FAO Library. Joe retired in 1997 as the Vice President of Research and Development of Foote and Jenks, a 100+ year old flavor company in Camden, NJ. Joe was a parishioner of St. Joseph Maronite Catholic Church of Atlanta, GA. He enjoyed being with his family, reading, traveling and cheering the New York Giants and New York Yankees. A funeral will be held on Saturday, May 11, 2013 at Our Lady of Mercy Maronite Catholic Church, Worcester, MA, the parish where Myrle and Joe were married on April 19, 1952, with burial to follow in the Leamy family plot at St John's Cemetery in Clinton, MA. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be sent to St Joseph Maronite Catholic Church, 502 Seminole Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30307. Local arrangements by Wages & Sons Gwinnett Chapel, 770-277-4550. Online condolences may be expressed at www.wagesandsons.com.