A polymer chemist at the Southwest Research Institute, Mallow enjoyed working on practical problems. He showed M&M-Mars how to keep peanut butter from gunking up the molds at M&M candy factories. He helped Bette Nesmith Graham (mother of “The Monkees” guitarist Michael Nesmith) perfect the formula for her invention, “Liquid Paper”.
He consulted on projects from Space Shuttle protective tiles to fake dinosaur skin — and invented clumping cat litter. Mallow retired from SwRI in 1998, but continued to dabble in materials: most recently, he worked on the “Mobility Denial System” — a slippery spray that could be used to disable enemy troops without injury or death. He died July 30 in San Antonio from leukemia. He was 72.