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Chemistry Professor William “Doc” Martin was a legend at Lake Forest College, teaching thousands of students and mentoring generations of faculty over five decades before his death in 2024. To ensure that his legacy continues to shape the lives of students and early-career professors, his wife, Dr. Yvonne Martin—a world-renowned chemist herself—has made a transformational $7 million gift to the College’s Department of Chemistry.

This gift will fund the creation of the William B. Martin Endowed Professorship in Chemistry, the William B. Martin Equipment Fund, and the William B. and Yvonne C. Martin Student Research Fund. It also will continue to support the Yvonne C. and William B. Martin Scholarship Endowment.

“Bill and I benefitted greatly from our education at a small liberal arts college whose fees our parents could not afford. We feel strongly that such an opportunity should be made to as many young students as possible. It will enhance, if not challenge, their life experiences,” Yvonne Martin said.

Professor Martin joined the College in 1961 and, over the course of his career, taught more than 2,000 students in organic chemistry and hundreds more in biochemistry. He also directed more than 65 senior theses, leaving a lasting impact on generations of Lake Forest College students.

Today, Yvonne Martin’s gift ensures that the same spirit of mentorship, discovery, and hands-on learning will continue for generations of Lake Forest College students.

Dr. Yvonne Martin and Professor William Martin | NEED PERMISSION

Long-term impact

Many of Professor Martin’s students went on to very successful careers in academia and the sciences.

Back in the 1980s, Dr. Bruce Kaplan ’85, MD, worked closely with Professor Martin. A board-certified opthalmologist today, Kaplan credits his years under Professor Martin’s tutelage with his career success.

“Dr. William Martin was one of the most influential people in my life,” Kaplan said. “He taught me how to think, analyze, prepare and execute to a level that helped me throughout my entire medical career as an ophthalmologist. The many hours spent in his classroom and after hours asking questions in his office also revealed what a kind, compassionate, and generous man he was. It was truly an honor and a privilege to have been educated by Dr. Martin.”

Today, physics major Peter Cirbo ’27 never had the opportunity to meet Professor Martin, but the 2025–26 recipient of the Yvonne C. and William B. Martin Scholarship Endowment has nevertheless been impacted by Doc Martin himself. Cirbo is grateful for his Martin scholarship and said he is dedicated to working hard so that he can “get the most out of my education and experience at Lake Forest College.” 

In his time at Lake Forest, the men’s soccer team captain has worked in Professor Mueggenberg’s lab, where “I was able to design my own lab experiment using Schlieren optics, code for an uncertainty propagation software using MATLAB code, and write code that evaluates elliptical integrals of the first and second kind. It was very cool to understand difficult concepts and also help make some updates to lab procedures and even create my own.” He calls this hands-on opportunity an “amazing experience” in his undergraduate education.

Cirbo is on track to attend Washington University after graduation as part of a dual-degree engineering program. In the end, Cirbo will earn a bachelor's degree in physics at Lake Forest and a master's in chemical engineering at Wash U.

“My Lake Forest College professors have helped me deeply in giving me the tools I need to succeed and guide me in the correct direction,” Cirbo said.

Yvonne Martin knows firsthand the importance of receiving that type of financial aid and what a difference it can make in a student’s life. When she was about to start college herself in the fall of 1954, Yvonne’s parents realized they were $50 short of what they needed to cover her costs. She notified her school, Carleton College, which set up a 100-hour work-study position that enabled Yvonne to make up the difference.

“Financial aid allowed me to attend Carleton,” she said simply of the gift that launched her future: Yvonne eventually earned a PhD in chemistry that led to a successful career in drug research at Abbott Laboratories.

The many sides of ‘Doc’ Martin

“One of Bill’s defining characteristics was his broad intellectual curiosity,” Yvonne said.

Although chemistry was his primary passion—“into which he delved broadly and deeply, not just the concepts and theories but also the people involved,” Yvonne explained—his interests extended well beyond the sciences. He was widely read in wartime history, railroads, and other technological topics, and he was an opera and theater buff who even enjoyed a little ballet.

“He was what was popularly called ‘a well-rounded man,’” she said.

His generosity matched his curiosity.

“He carefully mentored not only his students, but students from other disciplines who crossed his path, the departmental assistants, and young faculty from many departments,” Yvonne said.

QUOTE FROM PROFESSOR SCHWALBE ON IMPACT DOC MARTIN AND YVONNE HAVE HAD ON HER CAREER

Research sparks discovery

Associate Professor and Chair of Chemistry Nilam Shah is one of several professors mentoring students who are doing research this summer and throughout the school year, thanks to the Martin Student Research Fund.  

“The situation is unique here because our studies are not grant-based so our research students are free to explore different areas,” Shah said. “If you receive a grant, you are limited to that specific project that you have to focus on, and you have to look for certain results. But with the Martin Student Research gift, our students just work on research and see where it takes them.”

A student-led Alzheimer’s research project is one such example. After teaching her lab students one research technique for art conservation, Shah opened the door to new possibilities.

“I gave them the basics and told them, ‘If there's anything else you're interested in, let me know.’  And so last year they expressed interest in Alzheimer’s, so we started looking into that,” Shah said. “We really want to empower our students to figure out what they want to do, what they want to study.”

Elsa Carlson ’28, for one, appreciates the freedom to explore. A chemistry and art history double major, Carlson originally came to the College interested in art conservation.

“Now I know that there are so many different avenues you can take with research,” Carlson said. “It’s cool to see how you can take one sort of research and go into so many different directions.”

This new funding from Yvonne and other summer research supporters ensures that students get paid a living wage during their summer on campus so that they can concentrate fully on their work in the lab. 

Yvonne Martin said she is “happy if I can foster interest in such a career in young students. The endowed funds to support student research and chemical instrumentation provide a student with the chance to experience research early in their development.”

This summer X students conducted research in x science labs this summer, thanks to the Martin Scholarship. XX of those students are working specifically in chemistry—Professor Martin’s department.  

Equipment fund fuels hands-on learning

Professor Martin was one of the first College science professors to introduce hands-on chemistry. The classroom and textbook were important, but working in the lab to generate ideas and allow students to solve problems independently was integral to their scientific development, he felt.

Ensuring that students have access to the same equipment used in industry—and learn to use it as part of their regular laboratory experience—remains central to the College's chemistry program. The William B. Martin Equipment Fund will help ensure that Lake Forest College students continue to receive that hands-on preparation.

Yvonne recalled a time when a Lake Forest chemistry graduate applied for a job in California. After the interview, the company representative called Doc Martin and told him the graduate must have lied. “She can‘t possibly know how to use this equipment,” Yvonne recalled her husband telling her later. “Bill told him, ‘She didn’t lie. They learn how to use this in our lab.’ She was hired.” 

Today, students in the chemistry research labs still use Professor Martin’s scales and some of his chemicals. Thanks to the new Martin Equipment Fund, that equipment cache will grow to help even more students conduct science research—and the new professors, too.

“Professor Martin is just the gift that keeps on giving,” Associate Professor of Chemistry Erica Schultz said. “When I first started at the College, Professor Martin would come in often to check in with me and see how I was doing and if there was anything I needed. I’d say, ‘I really could use this or that thing.’ He’d show up a little later with that in hand.”

NILAM and ERICAN: CAN YOU ADD MORE HERE? 

Dawn Wiser named first ‘Martin Professor’

Dawn Wiser is the first William B. Martin Associate Professor of Chemistry. A member of the faculty since 19xx Wiser earned her PhD in chemistry from Colorado State University. She was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Exxon Chemical Company at its Baytown Polymers Center. She earned her bachelor’s at Muskingum College.

“I established this professorship to honor Bill for the many years that he devoted to the students, the chemistry department, and his faculty colleagues,” Yvonne Martin said. “The professorship ensures that the chemistry department will have an inspiring professor that cares deeply about the intellectual development of their students.”

Wiser is honored with this recognition.  QUOTE FROM PROFESSOR WISER ON HER SPECIALIZATION, WHAT THIS DESIGNATION MEANS TO HER AND THE EFFECT PROFESSOR MARTIN HAD ON HER CAREER