Cherry Logan Emerson

Cherry Logan Emerson, Jr. (September 30, 1916 – April 29, 2007 ) was an American chemical engineer, businessman, and philanthropist.

Life Cherry Logan Emerson, Jr. was born in 1916 and grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the son of Cherry Logan Emerson, Sr., the dean of engineering at the Georgia Tech, and the grandson of William Henry Emerson, Georgia Tech's first dean. As a child, Emerson had a talent for mathematics, foreshadowing a career in science and engineering.

Despite his father and grandfather's affiliations with Georgia Tech, Emerson chose instead to attend Emory University in Atlanta, earning both a B.A. (1938) and M.A. (1939) in chemistry. He went on to earn an M.S. in chemical engineering at MIT under the tutelage of Warren K. Lewis. Additionally, the Cherry Logan Emerson Concert Hall was named after Emerson in honor of his $1 million donation in 2002.

Emerson's donations funded two endowed professorships at Emory University: the Mary L. Emerson Chair of Piano Studies, named after his wife, and the William Henry Emerson Chair of Chemistry, named after his grandfather.