"The demand is for office space for professionals, but they want me to rent to quaint small shops," complained Mr. Anderson, a retired DuPont executive.

In October 2011, Codexis named Achilles Antonio Clement, a former DuPont executive, as the head of Codexis' operations in Brazil.

Many DuPont executives who moved into the senior executive ranks with the chemical company had stints at Seaford.

Her father was employed as a DuPont executive and she attended Ursuline Academy.

In spite of this admission, a DuPont executive, Hamilton Bradshaw, traveled to Harvard and convinced Carothers to change his mind.

The first order of business is to create a master plan for the entire parcel, said Harland Graef, a retired DuPont executive who is the development corporation's chairman.

Industrial companies have been working with alkaline metals for 100 years, according to Owen Mathre, a retired DuPont executive who still consults for the company.

Then, five years ago, several DuPont executives interested in the environment had an inspiration: why not care for the company land in a way that would provide an inviting habitat for wildlife?

In the conference call, DuPont executives said they saw some weakening in volume from customers in the clothing business.

"He was in many respects the first DuPont 'public' chief executive," said Chad Holliday, the current chairman of DuPont.