Mark Hintze, Ph.D.

Born April 23, 1956 in Wausau, WI. Mark moved throughout the North and Midwest while pursuing his education and career, and ended up residing in Charlotte, NC where he lived for the last 28 years.

Mark received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay, and worked 2 years as a chemist for Nestle Corp. He then attended Brown University in Providence, RI from 1985-1989 where he received his Ph.D. with high honors in Organic Chemistry. He completed his post doctorate work as a professor of organic chemistry at Purdue University in La Fayette, IN.

Mark has had an impactful and distinguished career, one whose legacy will live on for many years.

Dr. Hintze spent his entire 28 year career devoted to the lithium industry from 1993 to 2022, working at the Kings Mountain, NC lithium site, first in 1993 for Cyprus Foote Mineral/Chemetall Foote Corp. as Manager of Organometallic Chemistry for 6 years, then 14 years as Director of Research and Development under Chemetall Foote Corp./Rockwood Lithium Inc, then for the last 8 years under Albemarle Inc. as Manager of Battery Materials for 3 years and as R&D Advisor of Technical Services for Lithium for his last 5 years.

As Manager of Organometallics, Dr. Hintze built a new organometallic laboratory and initiated a new research program, brought two new organometallic products from conception to full-scale production. He designed and developed the kilo lab at Kings Mountain that piloted new organometallic products such as amides, grignards, and specialty lithium alkyls that were ultimately commercialized and provided technical support for the new organolithium product line.

As R&D Director, Dr. Hintze managed Chemetall Foote Corp’s Inorganic, Organometallic, Battery Materials and Analytical groups. He developed a new battery materials laboratory, managed the scale-up of pilot plant products, planned and designed new laboratories and managed the move into the new state of the art laboratories. One successful achievement in the new labs was developing a new process for making lithium sputtering targets, for which he received one of many patents throughout his career.

As Manager of Battery Materials, Dr. Hintze was a key contributor to the development of lithium alloys for next generated rechargeable batteries, improving the purity of lithium metal for the battery and commercial markets, he drove the development and explored new technologies for ultra-thin foils.

Dr. Hintze scoped and defined the specs for a high precision R&D rolling mill to produce the next generation of ultra thin lithium foil anodes, which is one of Albemarle’s strategic products in the near future.

Since the rolling mill was installed in July of 2021, Dr. Hintze and his coworker remarkably extended the rolling length of ultra thin lithium foils from tens of millimeters to tens of meters, the thinnest by far in existence, an achievement unheard of in the industry and will change the future world of lithium batteries. Another patent is pending for this discovery. Discoveries like this are rare and this achievement gave him the greatest professional satisfaction and joy.

Dr Hintze also lead the planning and scoping of a new laminator which will effectively improve the efficiency of not only existing laminated foil production but also new ultra thin foil products.

As R&D Advisor of Technical Services for Lithium, Dr. Hintze continued to be a key contributor to the development of advanced lithium metal anodes for high energy density batteries and has been an invaluable resource for deep technical expertise across the breadth of lithium materials, and has provided guidance spanning the immediacy of the plant to the future with R&D.

Dr. Hintze’s last major achievement was leading and completing the construction of a new R&D dry room, which after completion in May of 2021, has served as Albemarle’s Battery Materials Innovation Center. He was proud for this to be the staple marking the end of his career.

Dr. Hintze leaves a legacy of expertise, collaboration, curiosity, teamwork and mentoring, as well as state-of-the-art facilities, that have set up Albemarle to lead in the next generation of battery materials.

He truly had a passion for science and outside of his professional work, he remained true to being a man of science. He incorporated scientific methods into everything he had a passion for. He read and stayed current on everything science related. He was a member of the American Chemical Society. Even in his last weeks, he refused to let his mind grow idle. He enrolled in an MIT calculus course to brush up on his skills before exploring a new idea he wanted to work on. He was always thinking and keeping active in the science world. He was also an avid Sci-Fi fan. He was never without a kindle handy, reading one of multiple Sci-Fi novels at all times. He was also a huge Trekie.

Mark met his wife and soulmate Ammie in 1995 while working together at Cyprus Foote Mineral. Over the course of 2 years, their friendship turned into a 25 year life together with their mountaintop wedding in Gatlinburg, TN bonding their deep and true love for each other.

Mark was kind, caring, and nothing if not extremely humble. He was a friend to everyone who knew him, no matter if it were CEO or the cleaning crew, and everyone in between.

Mark was also a cigar aficionado, you rarely would see him without one, and of course, wearing the appropriate hat. He also had a refined taste for craft beer, not only drinking it but skilled at brewing it himself. Brewing coffee was also another normal task turned into a carefully honed art form, enjoyed best by hand grinding the beans and slow brewing.

He loved tailgating and grilling at Carolina Panthers games, at outdoor summer concerts and most of all in his own backyard, on his new patio where he and Ammie spent most of their free time. He was the grill master of 2 Big Green Egg smokers. He spent endless time researching recipes and grilling techniques. Experiments were performed until complete perfection was achieved. A meal from his grill and you’d never want to order from a restaurant again.

He had a personality that naturally just drew people in. He was laid back, cool, funny, witty and had such an open mind. He loved to interact with, banter and learn from people of all different walks of life.

He had a way like no other to take any topic and turn it into the most colorful and interesting story leaving everyone on the edge of their seat. He had a great sense of humor and made people laugh every day. He had the most amazing, genuine, infectious laugh that you could always hear a mile away.

Mark had the biggest heart and genuinely cared about people and animals as well. A true animal lover who cared for his pets with more love and devotion than some give to their own family members.

The Outerbanks of NC is where his heart was, he and Ammie vacationed there every one of their 25 years together and planned to retire there, and so it seems fitting that he passed away in this most special place, and where his ashes were put to rest.

Survivors include his wife Ammie, his daughter Billie Jo Kroening, grandchildren Kelsie and Tanner Kroening, his sister Marie Hintze and her children. Mark was preceded in death by his parents Vernon and Patricia Hintze.

A memorial service will be held at Carothers Funeral Home in Gastonia, NC on Monday, March 28, 2022 at 6pm, with visitation from 4pm-6pm. Live streaming on Facebook will be provided. Please visit the website at www.dignitymemorial.com and share your memories of Mark. Donations in Mark’s memory may be made to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.