Harold C. Pillsbury Jr.; U.S. Cigarette Tester and Chemist

Harold Crockett Pillsbury Jr., 77, a chemist who tested cigarettes for the Federal Trade Commission. Pillsbury directed the FTC’s cigarette-testing laboratory from its inception after a landmark 1964 study by the surgeon general, which linked smoking to health problems, until it was closed by funding cuts in 1987. Pillsbury retired as an FTC chemist in 1989 after 25 years with the department. He designed a device that measured the carbon monoxide levels of cigarettes, aiding in the lab’s tests of cigarette manufacturers’ advertising claims. Born in Baltimore, Pillsbury earned his chemistry degree at Loyola College in Maryland and did graduate work at Georgetown University. He served in the Army in Europe during World War II and participated in the Battle of the Bulge. Before joining the FTC, Pillsbury was a research chemist with the Food and Drug Administration. On Sunday in Washington, D.C., of multiple myeloma.