Morris, Robert M.

The worst industrial accident in U.S. history took place on the morning of April 16, 1947 when a French freighter carrying fertilizer (ammonium nitrate) on Galveston Bay caught fire and exploded, causing disaster on shore at the nearby Monsanto styrene plant and other petroleum refineries, homes, warehouses, ships and buildings. At least 576 were killed and 4,000 injured, with Texas City being almost completely destroyed.

Monsanto rebuilt the plant, which was only three years old, in order to help supply the nation's synthetic rubber needs during World War II. The plant was bought by Gordon Cain in 1986 and became known as Sterling Chemicals.

Correspondents include Robert M. Morris of Grantham, N.H.; William H. Lane of Texas City; John F. Jacobs of Nashville, TN; and Fred Ruecker. Lane survived the disaster. Morris was Monsanto's Assistant Plant Manager. After being thrown in a Jeep, trapped under it and nearly drowned by a tidal wave, Morris survived and went on to assist in the rescue efforts. Fred Ruecker lost his father, a plant engineer, in the disaster, as did John F. Jacobs. After surviving the disaster, Morris was transferred to Springfield, Massachusetts (1949) and then to St. Louis (1953), going on to eventually settled in New Hampshire.

Morris' daughter Susie Glasscock earned her BA in economics from Rice in 1962 and currently serves on the Rice Board of Trustees. Her husband Melbern Glasscock earned a BSME from Texas A&M in 1959 and his MS in mechanical engineering at Rice in 1961. Mr. and Mrs. Glasscock have been regular students of the School of Continuing Studies at Rice University for almost 30 years. In January 2006, the school was renamed the Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies in honor of the Glasscock's endowment gift believed to be the largest endowment gift ever made to a university continuing education program in the United States.