Dr. Katz received his B.S. in Chemistry from Upsala College in 1953, his M.S. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Delaware in 1955 and his Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences in 1959. He joined the Department of Agricultural Chemistry at Rutgers University’s College of Agriculture as assistant professor in 1958 and was appointed professor in 1967. His area of research interests was related to the use of antibiotics in animal agriculture, the degradation of ureaform‐type fertilizers in soils and the environmental metabolic fate of pesticides. In 1971, Dr. Katz moved to the Department of Microbiology and Biochemistry at Cook College of Rutgers University, and he served as the chairman of the department until 1990. Since 2006, he has served as Professor Emeritus, continuing his teaching and research and focusing recently on biofuels.