McClatchy Newspapers

McClatchy Newspapers

WYNDMOOR, PA.

Robert L. McNeil Jr., a Philadelphia chemist who developed a little-known pain reliever called paracetamol into the global blockbuster Tylenol, creating a fortune that he freely distributed to charities, universities and museums, died May 20 of a heart ailment at his home in Wyndmoor, Pa. He was 94.

McNeil was not a brilliant synthetic chemist discovering new compounds through long hours in the laboratory, said Arnold Thackray of the nonprofit Chemical Heritage Foundation, whose goal is to preserve the history of chemistry. Instead, he had the insight to discern that paracetamol, also known as acetaminophen, had the potential to become an important drug and the creativity to develop an effective marketing campaign.

Paracetamol was discovered by French chemist Charles Gerhardt in 1852, but the discovery languished for nearly a century until British researchers in the late 1940s demonstrated that it could safely and effectively alleviate pain and reduce fevers.

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