Byron M. Vanderbilt, 85, Green Valley, Arizona, died Thursday, June 20, in Arizona, after a stroke.

Mr Vanderbilt was born 1906, in Brookston and was married in 1934, to Elizabeth Hanawalt, in Evanston, Ill. She survives.

In 1929 he attended Indiana University, where he received a bachelor's degree. Later he got his master's degree and a doctorate in chemistry from Purdue.

Mr. Vanderbilt worked in Chicago Heights, Ill., for the Victor Chemical Co. and in Terre Haute for Commercial Solvents. He began working in 1938, for the Esso Research and Engineering Co. which later became Exxon Corp. He retired in 1968.

He wrote two books, "Thomas Edison, Chemist" and "Inventing: How the Masters Did It." Also he produced 100 inventions in the chemical field.

He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa honorary fraternity and the American Chemical Society.

Others surviving are a son, Dean Vanderbilt, Dallas; a daughter, Carol Brown, Bloomington, IN; and a brother, Robert Vanderbilt, Lafayette.

Burial was in Evanston, Illinois.