On May 25, 1992, the American Chemical Society announced that Robert W. Parry from the University of Utah had been selected as the 1993 recipient of the Priestley Medal “to recognize distinguished services to chemistry.”

From 1997 until his death, Parry was Professor Emeritus at the University of Utah. He was an extraordinary teacher, teaching chemistry to thousands of undergraduate students. In 1970 he co-authored a high school chemistry text, Chemistry Experimental Foundations, which was widely used throughout the United States.