Max Tishler is noted for taking the formulation of pharmaceutical chemicals out of the laboratory and onto the production floor. During his long career as an industrial research chemist, he received patents relating to more than 100 medicinal chemicals, vitamins, antibiotics, and hormones. In doing so he significantly improved human health and nutrition and laid the foundation for modern, large-scale process chemistry of complex compounds.

Tishler was born on October 30, 1906, in Boston, Massachusetts. His father's name was Samuel, and his mother's maiden name was Anna Gray. He attended Tufts College in Medford, Massachusetts, where he earned a B.S. in chemistry in 1928. During his high school and college years, he worked part time in a pharmacy, where he first became interested in the use of pharmaceutical chemicals to treat health problems.

After graduation from Tufts, Tishler studied organic chemistry at Harvard University, where he was a teaching fellow from...