Max Gergel, who graduated with a degree in chemical engineering from the University of South Carolina in 1942, founded and ran the successful Columbia Organic Chemical Company. A Nobel Prize-winning biochemist once said in a speech that he was encouraged by Gergel, describing him as “an unusually nice man.”

The chemist also had a boat and enjoyed sailing, especially to a house he had in Jamaica.

He also wrote two books, including the 1977 memoir Excuse Me Sir, Would You Like to Buy a Kilo of Isopropyl Bromide? In them, he wrote about how he had helped in the development of the first atomic bomb, as well as in developing weapons for Israel.

But in that varied and interesting life, one thing was missing: a bar mitzvah.

And so, at 96, with the assistance of Rabbi Hesh Epstein, co-director of Chabad of South Carolina in Columbia, Gergel participated in the coming-of-age Jewish ceremony.

A day later, he passed away.

“He did everything he needed to do, and his journey was over, I guess,” said Epstein. “I guess that was his last mitzvah that he needed to do.”