Former L'Oréal Scientist and Lauded 'Chemical Detective' Endows Chemistry Scholarship

When the Philadelphia Police Department was struggling to solve a murder case with no leads except for a tube of lipstick, they called the Chemical Detective, aka alumnus Michael Kravetz, BS ‘64.

For 26 years, Kravetz was on the case at the cosmetics giant L’Oréal, where he was the director of analytical research. He may have since hung up his safety goggles, but his legacy as a beaker-wielding gumshoe will live on thanks to his recently endowed Saint Joseph’s University chemistry scholarship.

Kravetz is someone who found a home in the chemistry department at what was then the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science (PCPS) — now SJU's Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. In the spirit of paying it forward, he wants to provide that same opportunity for the next generation through a contribution to the $300 million SOAR campaign.

“When I got into [PCPS] and started talking with the faculty and students and being around them, I felt I was at home,” says Kravetz. “[I felt] that I finally found my place in life. I finally found a place where I could be happy.”

This was no small feat for Kravetz, who was coming to PCPS from a tumultuous and strenuous homelife. A few months before he graduated high school, his father passed and Kravetz was thrown into the role of familial breadwinner. When classes began in the fall, he suddenly found himself short on hours in a day. 

“If you're doing 20 hours in the grocery store,” Kravetz recalls, “and you're trying to study a chemistry curriculum, and you have a family falling apart, and you're worried about your next meal, it's a difficult situation to try to uphold and to survive in.”

Kravetz credits the community and the faculty and staff he found at PCPS with getting him through those trying days. Professors were understanding, cafeteria staff would give him meals on credit that he would pay back when his paychecks from the grocery store came in. It seemed everyone wanted him to succeed. And he did.

After stints with a candle factory and a specialty chemical house, Kravetz found himself at E.R. Squibb and Sons, which would later merge with Bristol Myers. There, Kravetz filed his first patent for an instrument that could help determine how quickly a pharmaceutical drug is excreted and the pathways it takes through the body. 

The patent was commercialized and Kravetz worked with a small manufacturer to get it off the ground before landing at L’Oréal. For the next quarter-century, Kravetz earned the moniker of Chemical Detective by applying his expertise to solving case after case. Whether Kravetz was determining if L’Oréal nail polish was the reason for a woman’s nails falling off (it wasn’t!); devising ways to test why hair dye was changing color inside its packaging; or testifying as an expert witness on fragrances, hair or cosmetic products; he never forgot where it all started. 

“PCPS was the pivot point of my life,” he says.

Kravetz hopes that his scholarship will not only provide a similar experience for future students, but that it will also do something much more fundamental: awaken a joy for learning. 

“One of the big benefits of education is that you can teach yourself things,” Kravetz explains. “And once you get used to doing that, there's a joy in doing it.”

This, Kravetz believes, is the key to a satisfying life. 

“Without that, I would not have been able to get this far in life and be able to celebrate my profession,” Kravetz concludes. “Really, I had a hobby I got paid for.”