Morton CEO Retires Four Months After Rohm And Haas Merger

The former CEO of Morton International Inc. (which merged with Rohm and Haas Co. in June) is resigning. S. Jay Stewart will retire as a vice chairman of Rohm and Haas and CEO of the Morton subsidiary effective Oct. 31. He was named CEO of Morton in 1994 after joining the company through a merger of Thiokol Corp., where he was general manager of the Ventron Div. and president of the Dynachem Electronic Materials business, and Morton Norwich in 1982. As CEO of Morton, he orchestrated the spin-off of the salt and specialty chemicals businesses and merger of Morton's airbag business with Autoliv Inc. and expanded Morton's North American salt business to international stature with the acquisition of Salins du Midi. In February 1999 Rohm and Haas and Morton International announced their agreement to combine the two companies in a merger, which was completed three months later. "Over the years, Jay Stewart built a very successful worldwide enterprise," says Rajiv Gupta, CEO and chairman of Rohm and Haas Co. "His contribution will continue to benefit the new company going forward." Stewart, 61, began his career as a chemical engineer with Monsanto. In 1973 he joined Thiokol.