Exit Interview: David LaMotte on a Lifetime Career at LaMotte Chemical

The Spy “Exit Interview” series is part journalism and part oral history. Over the last eleven years, the Chestertown Spy has interviewed dozen of local leaders at the moment of their retirement to reflect on their work and some of the challenges they have faced in their professional careers and the nonprofit organizations they have helped as trustees.

David H. LaMotte is our subject for this installment. We asked David to reflect on his lifetime career at LaMotte Chemical and how this modest family business started by his grandfather, had relocated from Baltimore in 1956. Under his guidance as president, he grew into a mature, growing company with over 200 employees.

A few months ago, a significant end of an era in Chestertown commerce went mostly unnoticed for most of the community. After a lifetime working at LaMotte Chemical, David LaMotte discreetly stepped down as president of the Kent County-based chemical testing company, which he had led after Arthur H. Thomas Company purchased the business, in 1986.

In his Spy interview, David reflects on how this family enterprise grew, decided to sell the company, and the excitement of leading a team to expand their products and services on an international scale, all from their modest headquarters at the corner of Washington Street and Morgnec Road.

This video is approximately ten minutes in length.