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Purpora used science to solve mysteries

Whitefish Bay - William J. Purpora spent part of his boyhood in an orphanage, attended four high schools before graduating and dropped out of college after one year. But following a stint in the Air Force and a job at a nuclear laboratory, he went on to become a leader in the petroleum engineering industry.

While in the Air Force repairing radar systems for jet fighters, Purpora developed an interest in engineering. He returned to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and completed a bachelor's degree in science in 1967. Three years later, he co-founded Protanic Inc., a company in Glendale that specializes in detecting leaks in underground fuel storage systems.

"He was the father of 200 companies around the world that test underground tanks and pipes for leaks," said Purpora's son Stephen. "He was respected by everyone in his field."

William Purpora died Thursday at Columbia Hospital in Milwaukee of complications of surgery for cancer. He was 61.

He bounced from community to community as a young man, while his mother, Virginia Lyke, moved across Wisconsin and Illinois, said his brother, Ronald. Lyke worked as a waitress to help support her sons.

"He spent one year at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, but he did not excel," said Ronald Purpora. "So he went into the Air Force, and they assigned him to repairing radar. The Air Force kind of put a bur in his saddle."

After the military, William Purpora received a government security clearance and worked at the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, rubbing shoulders with scientists and engineers. The experience inspired him to return to college to continue his education.

"He saw what the engineers were doing, and he said, 'I can do this,' " Ronald Purpora said. "It really drove him on."

William Purpora started Protanic when detecting petroleum leaks was in its infancy.

"He pretty much stood alone at the beginning - nobody was finding leaks then," he said. "Nobody would consider doing it as a full-time job."

As gas stations proliferated in the 1960s, so did problems with leaking storage tanks. Fuel was disappearing from underground facilities, and hardly anybody could get a handle on the problem. Purpora got started using monitoring equipment that already was being marketed but that few people knew how to use, said Stephen Purpora.

"He developed principles based on the weight of water and the weight of petroleum products to make determinations on where it was going," he said. "He eliminated variables that had been hanging people up from making determinations."

He eventually built the company into a business with 20 employees, and he traveled around the world teaching other companies how to use his system.

"For 10 years, I didn't see my dad because he was all over the globe 50 weeks a year training people," Stephen Purpora said. "He could have started franchises, but he preferred to give the small guy a chance. He just wanted to go around teaching them how to use the system."

Survivors include his mother; his wife of 39 years, Susan; sons Stephen and Ross; and brother Ronald. He is also survived by three grandchildren, seven nieces and one nephew.

Visitation is scheduled for today from 9 a.m. to noon at Schmidt & Bartelt Guardalabene & Amato Funeral and Cremation Services, 106 W. Silver Spring Drive, Whitefish Bay. The funeral follows at noon.