Nobel Prof Disoriented On Rockford Road; Wife Found Dead In Car

ROCKFORD, IL — A Nobel Prize-winning chemistry professor from Purdue University was found disoriented and wandering along a rural state road by authorities in south Rockford, while his wife had been found dead in their car at a nearby landfill, according to the Ogle County's Sheriff's Office. Ei-ichi Negishi and his wife, Sumire, had been traveling to Rockford International Airport when their car became stuck in a ditch, WTHR-TV in Indianapolis reported.

Ei-ichi Negishi, 82, was discovered when deputies responded to a call around 5 a.m. Tuesday, March 13, of an elderly man walking in the 8200 block of North Route 251 in Davis Junction, the sheriff's office said. He was taken to a Rockford hospital for treatment.

Deputies later found Sumirie Negishi, 80, inside the couple's car near Orchard Hills Landfill, according to the sheriff's office. She was pronounced dead by the Ogle County coroner, but an autopsy was unsuccessful at determining the cause of death, which is pending.

Foul play is not suspected in Sumirie's death, the sheriff's office said. But the case is still under investigation.

The couple, who lived in West Lafayette, Indiana, had been reported missing to Indiana State Police at about 8 p.m. March 12, according to the sheriff's office. A family member told WTHR that the two were driving to the airport when Ei-ichi became disoriented.

"We are devastated by the loss of our beloved wife and mother, Sumire Negishi, who was near the end of her battle with Parkinson's," the family said in a statement to WTHR. "She was traveling with her lifelong partner and husband, Ei-ichi Negishi, who was apparently suffering from an acute state of confusion and shock."

A professor in organic chemistry at Purdue, Ei-ichi Negishi won the Nobel prize in his field for his research of a process to create complex chemicals that came to be known as "Negishi coupling." In the late 1980s, Sumire Negishi helped families of Japanese auto workers who had moved to the West Lafayette area adjust to their new home, according to the Chicago Tribune.

"Purdue University and the world have lost a dear friend in the death of Sumire Negishi," Purdue University President Mitch Daniels said in a statement to WTHR on Wednesday. "Throughout a lifetime of love and loyalty, she supported her husband in a career of tremendous contributions to science and to the teaching and training of subsequent generations of top scientists."

More via WTHR-TV

Purdue University professor Ei-ichi Negishi answers questions at a 2010 news conference after the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. (Photo by Frank Polich | Getty Images News | Getty Images)