Ellis Leroy "Lee" Hawk, Jr. (1926-2012) was a chemical engineer with Hercules Inc., and later the engineering director at Himont. He was involved in establishing polypropylene plants all over the world during the 1950s through the 1980s.

In 1926, Hawk was born to Ellis L. Hawk, Sr. (1898-1973) and Edna (Linke) Hawk (1901-1992) in Seymour, Indiana. Upon his high school graduation he entered the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1944 and served with the 3701st Army Air Force in Amarillo, Texas. He graduated from Ohio State University with a degree in Chemical Engineering in 1950 and went to work for Hercules Inc.

Hercules Inc. was a manufacturer of chemicals and munitions based in Wilmington, Delaware. The company was established in 1912 by T.W. Bacchus (1862-1944) as the Hercules Powder Company. The Hercules Powder Company was one of the companies created from the break up of the E.I. du Pont de Nemours "powder trust" in 1911 as ruled by a U.S. Supreme Court decision. In its early years as a separate company, it continued to produce explosives and dynamite.

In 1956, renowned German chemist Karl Ziegler (1898-1973) invented high density polyethylene and polypropylene plastics. Hercules Inc. then began working on the commercialization and expansion of this new technology. Hercules manufacturing plants were built all over the world. Throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s Hawk traveled overseas to cultivate relationships with counterparts and helped establish these plants. In 1983, in a joint venture with an Italian industrial chemical company Montedison, Hercules formed Himont as part of a divestiture program. Himont became the world's largest manufacturer of polypropylene. Hercules sold its portion of Himont in 1987. Hawk retired in 1990.

Hawk married Sarah Jane (Parent) Hawk (1927-2012) in 1950 and had three children.