Scientist and successful inventor creates an award for research into aging
Maxwell Aaron Pollack (1916-1996)
Maxwell Aaron Pollack was a chemist, inventor, entrepreneur, and patent attorney. He also was concerned about healthy aging.
Maxwell was born in New York City on June 21, 1916, to Samuel and Margaret Moskowitz Pollack. He graduated from City College of New York and earned his master’s and doctorate degrees in organic chemistry from Northwestern University. He married Helen Pollard on March 17, 1939.
During the 1940s, at the University of Texas, Maxwell researched cancer and studied the nutritional value of vitamins. In 1955, he registered a patent for a vinyl chloride resin composition, a colorless compound used to produce PVC. And in the early 1970s, he was involved in research and development of high-speed copy machines.
He was granted two patents to protect his invention of toner cartridges for xerographic copiers in 1976-77. His company, Van Dyk Research in Whippany, New Jersey, later sued Xerox in U.S. District Court, asserting that the corporate giant violated antitrust laws in the development and marketing of plain paper copiers. After 24 days of testimony and 39 witnesses, the judge ruled in favor of Xerox.
Maxwell established the nonprofit Pollack Foundation for Aging Research in 1972, and in 1986 the foundation’s assets were transferred to the Maxwell A. Pollack Fund in The New York Community Trust. The Trust works with a nonprofit to provide an annual award to an individual who has made the most outstanding contribution to increasing the human healthy life span and administrative expenses of award program.
In recent years, The Trust’s Maxwell A. Pollack Award has been administered by the Gerontological Society of America, the largest organization in the country dedicated to advancing knowledge, research, and clinical practice in the field of aging. The Society convenes a review panel of its members, including distinguished gerontologists, to develop criteria for the award, circulates a call for nominations, and selects the winner. The award is given at the Society’s Annual Scientific Meeting, where the winner shares their work.
A list of winners for the Maxwell A. Pollack Award for Productive Aging
