Background
Boyce was born in Chicago, Illinois on November 15, 1868, to Joseph (1832–1889) and Mary Boyce (1834–1925), both mid-century immigrants to New York City.
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James F. Boyce
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He also pioneered techniques now used in the isolation and removal of consumable hydrogenated vegetable oils from plants, especially cottonseed. Later in life, he ran the Chicago Glass Novelty Company. The success Boyce had in his work as a commercial chemist allowed him to move to the somewhat exclusive Hyde Park area of Chicago"s South Side where he met Mable Hannah Thompson, whose parents owned a summer estate, "Kemah", located in Saugatuck, Michigan, in Allegan County.
The Boyces had nine children.
Early in the twentieth century the family relocated to a fruit farm near Saugatuck. In 1889, Boyce went to work as a chemist for the industrialist, Nathaniel Kellogg Fairbank.
He quickly rose to the rank of foreman at the North.K. Fairbank Soap Company of Chicago. Boyce had his first career success working as the supervising chemist in the formulation of Gold Dust Washing Powder, an all purpose cleaning agent first introduced in 1889.
Initially a regional success, the brand quickly rose to national prominence.
The product"s mascots, the iconic Gold Dust Twins, were featured in print, written and eventually radio ads. The twins, "Goldie" and "Dustie," made an easily recognizable trademark found in most United States. homes during the first half of the twentieth century, even spawning a radio program in 1929, the Gold Dust Twins Radio Show.". Gold Dust was distributed in the United States. and Canada by the Lever Brothers Company.
Boyce made his most notable discovery while working with cottonseed in an attempt to extract usable oils for the soap industry in the 1890s.
Cottonseed oil, as it was then being produced, proved to be of little practical use as a food supplement or additive for human consumption. However, Boyce"s novel industrial hydrogenation procedure, which introduce nickel as a catalyst, when applied to cottonseed (and other plant materials), proved successful and was considered a scientific breakthrough.
This allowed its subsequent application (by the likes of French chemist Paul Sabatier and manufacturing giant Procter & Gamble) to the commercial exploitation of vegetable oils and fats, which resulted in the creation of such products as "oleomargarine" and vegetable shortening. These are in worldwide use today.
Boyce retired from the North. K. Fairbank labs and took up growing fruit at Kemah, with hired hands doing most of the physical labor in the orchards.
Around 1915, he took on the position of president of the Chicago Glass Novelty Company, headquartered in Marion, Indiana. This is a position Boyce held until his death. Boyce died on June 2, 1935. He is buried in the Gibson Cemetery, in Laketown Township, Allegan County, outside Holland, Michigan.
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Born
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Died
June 2, 1935 (aged 66) -
Nationality
United States