Obituaries 2011

IN 2010

Harry V. Gelboin (died on April 13, 2010, at 80) was chief of the molecular carcinogenesis laboratory at NCI from 1966 to 1999. His discovery of the genetic basis for the process by which normal cells are transformed into cancer cells is considered a major advance in the field.

IN 2011

Baruj Benacerraf (died on August 2, 2011, at 90), who was chief of NIAID’s Laboratory of Immunology from 1968 to 1970, shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1980 for discoveries concerning genetically determined structures on the cell surface that regulate immunological reactions. A significant portion of his Nobel Prize-winning work was performed at NIH. After leaving NIH, he led the department of pathology at Harvard Medical School and was also president of the Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Fred H. Bergmann (died on May 2, 2011, at 83) was a microbiologist who directed the NIGMS Genetics Program from its inception in 1972 until his retirement in 1988. He began working at NIH in 1961 as a biochemist in what is now NIDCR, where he studied the mechanisms of protein synthesis. In 1963, he transferred to what is now NHLBI to work in the laboratory of Dr. Marshall Nirenberg, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1968 for deciphering the genetic code.

Baruch “Barry” Blumberg (died on April 5, 2011, at 85) shared the 1976 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology (with D. Carleton Gajdusek of NINDS) for his work on infectious viral diseases. He discovered the hepatitis B vaccine and subsequently developed a preventive vaccine. He worked at NIH from 1957 until 1964 and then spent much of his career at the Institute for Cancer Research in Philadelphia, which merged into the Fox Chase Cancer Center in 1974.

Arnold Brossi (died on July 16, 2011, at age 88) was an NIH scientist emeritus who headed NIDDK’s Medicinal Chemistry Section from 1976 to 1991. He was widely recognized as one of the godfathers of alkaloid chemistry.

Morris E. Chafetz (died on October 14, 2011, at 87) was first director of the NIAAA (1970-1975) and a leading spokesman for the problems of alcoholism.

Wanda Chappell (died on July 18, 2011, at 93), was a chief nurse at the Clinical Center Department of Transfusion Medicine and NIH Blood Bank who retired in 1980 after 27-year career at NIH. In 1966, she developed a method for separating blood platelets from blood plasma allowing the CC to use platelets for transfusion to leukemia patients while using the rest of the blood product with other patients.

Martin M. Cummings (died on September 1, 2011, at 90) was the director of the National Library of Medicine (1964-1983). During his tenure, the library emerged as a leader in the computer age and became one of the most advanced scientific libraries in the world.

Luise Fogarty (died on October 21, 2011, at 96), the widow of Congressman John E. Fogarty, for whom NIH’s Fogarty International Center (FIC) is named. After the Congressman’s death in 1967 she worked to realize her husband’s goal of establishing FIC, which opened in 1968.

Lowell T. Harmison (died on March 30, 2011, at 74) came to NIH in 1967 as chief of the engineering section of the National Heart Institute’s Artificial Heart-Myocardial Infarction Program. He developed the first completely implantable artificial assist heart to augment function of the diseased heart and the first totally implantable artificial heart in the world. He held the first U.S. and foreign patent for the completely implantable artificial heart.

Shirley Carter Harris (died on October 17, 2011, at 73) worked as a physical science technician in NCI’s Metabolism Branch for 33 years and retired in 1993.

Donald Harting (died on January 2, 2011, at 88) who served as NICHD director from 1965 to 1966 and assistant director and acting director before that, was responsible for implementing the plans for NICHD that were developed by its first director.

Rudiger “Roger” Haugwitz (died on July 18, 2011, at 79), a chemist at NCI, helped to develop anti-cancer drugs, including derivatives of the chemotherapy drug Taxol, for more than two decades until his retirement in 2006. He also used his scientific expertise to create novel artworks that were exhibited in the United States and Europe.

Bernadine Healy (died on August 6, 2011, at 67) became the 13th NIH director in April 1991 and was the first woman to head the agency. After serving as director for two years, she was dean of Ohio State University Medical School (1995-1999) and president and chief executive officer of the American Red Cross (1999-2001). She was also a columnist for U.S. News & World Report. In 1994, she ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate from Ohio.

Richard K.C. Hsieh (died on December 31, 2011, at 79), who traced his lineage to seventh-century China, retired from NLM in 1996 as director of international programs.

Donald M. Jerina (died on May 22, 2011, at 71), an organic chemist and biochemist in NIDDK, began working at NIH in 1969 and was chief of the Oxidation Mechanisms Section until 2006. An international leader in the field of chemical carcinogenesis, he pioneered research on cancer-causing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are widespread environmental contaminants, most notably in tobacco smoke, automobile exhaust, and the charred portions of grilled foods.

William B. Kannel (died on August 20, 2011, at 87), an epidemiologist, was the director of the Framingham Heart Study (1966-1979), which helped revolutionize the way heart disease is treated.

Harry R. Keiser (died on November 23, 2011, at 78) was the NHLBI clinical director from 1976 until his retirement in 1998. Keiser’s research focus was on neurohormonal contributions to hypertension. He became a world authority on testing for pheochromcytoma, a rare but potentially curable cause of hypertension.

Carl Kupfer (died on April 7, 2011, at 83) was appointed the first director of NEI in 1970 and served for 30 years. He was also director of the Fogarty International Center at NIH in 1988.

Richard J. Levine (died on April 12, 2011, at 71), a senior investigator in NICHD’s Division of Epidemiology, Statistics, and Prevention Research, made important contributions to our understanding of preeclampsia, a potentially fatal disorder of pregnancy.

Thomas E. Malone (died on March 7, 2011, at 84) served as the sixth NIH deputy director for nine years before retiring from NIH in 1986. He was the first African American to serve at such a senior level at NIH and was briefly the acting NIH director.

Richard Mercer (died on January 17, 2011, at 57) was an ophthalmic technician in NEI’s Clinical Services Section since 1995.

Howard Nash (died on June 12, 2011, at 73), one of the lions of the NIH intramural program, was a senior investigator in the NIMH Laboratory of Molecular Biology. His career at NIMH spanned over four decades and was rich in both scientific accomplishments and community service. His early investigations into the mechanisms of recombination in phage lambda laid the foundations for modern techniques of DNA manipulation.

Franklin A. Neva (died on October 15, 2011, at 89) was a renowned virologist, parasitologist, clinician, and former chief of NIAID’s Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases. He shepherded parasitology research at NIH from a small area of focus to a program that is now spread among four different NIAID laboratory groups and involves some 400 NIAID scientific staff at laboratories in Bethesda and abroad. He also established a clinical service for parasitic infections.

Robert R. Omata (died on May 10, 2011, at 90), who served for nearly four decades at NIH, was instrumental in establishing bilateral cancer research partnerships to speed sharing of scientific information between the United States and other countries. During the 1960s, he helped bring young researchers to NIH from dozens of countries as chief of international postdoctoral fellowship programs at what is now the Fogarty International Center.

Morris B. Parloff (died on April 2, 2011, at 92), an authority of psychotherapy research, spent 30 years at the NIMH before retiring as a branch chief in 1983. During World War II, he did counterintelligence work with the Army in Europe; he led a unit of German-Jewish refugee soldiers known as the “Ritchie Boys,” named after the Maryland-based intelligence school where they were trained.

Marius Peacock (died on June 16, 2011, at 79) was a scientist from 1962 to 2008 at NIAID’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Mont. He spent most of his career working with Rickettsia, the genus of bacteria that causes diseases such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and Coxiella burnetii, which causes Q fever. In 1997, a new species of bacterium that he had isolated from wood ticks was named after him, Rickettsia peacockii.

David Pearl (died on February 23, 2011, at 90), former chief of NIMH’s behavioral sciences research branch, retired in 1984 after a 20-year career at NIMH. In 1982, he issued a government report about the links between violence on television and aggressive behavior in children.

Vincent E. Price (died on August 12, 2011 at 91) was a physician and biochemist, former deputy director of NIGMS, and a researcher in NCI. His research with amino acids led to an improved understanding of genetics at the cellular and molecular levels.

Brian Safer (died on February 6, 2011, at 68), a biochemist, worked at NIH from 1973 until retiring in 2003. He served as chief of the molecular hematology branch of the NHLBI and his research focused on protein synthesis.

Harry Saroff (died on November 29, 2011, at 97) joined the Laboratory of Biophysical Chemistry of the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases, predecessor of the current NIDDK, in 1949, and became its Chief in 1977. He retired in 1979.

Philip E. Schambra (died on September 11, 2011, at 76) was the former director of NIH’s Fogarty International Center and worked for closer ties between pure science and its clinical application.

Arthur Schatzkin (died on January 20, 2011, at 62), an NCI researcher, was internationally known for investigating the role of food and diet in causing cancer. He came to NCI in 1984 and since 1999 served as the chief of the Nutritional Epidemiology Branch in the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics. He was the first to describe an association between moderate alcohol intake and breast cancer risk, and led the landmark NCI Polyp Prevention Trial, that showed that a low-fat, high-fiber diet, contrary to the prevailing hypothesis, had no effect on recurrence colon polyps.

Irene J. Underwood (died on February 11, 2011, at 98) was a retired librarian in NLM’s History of Medicine Division.

Robert Weisberg (died on September 1, 2011, at 74), a geneticist and virologist, retired in 2008 after nearly 40 years at NIH. He is best known for his elegant work in dissecting the genetics and molecular basis of site-specific recombination, packaging, and transcription anti-termination in bacteriophage lambda. He was the head of the section on microbial genetics in NICHD’s Program in Genomics of Differentiation. After retirement, he moved to NCI's Laboratory of Molecular Biology as a scientist emeritus, where he was a vibrant member of the prokaryotic research group.

Storm Whaley (died on September 18, 2011, at 95) served as NIH’s top communications official for 22 years before retiring in 1992.

T. Franklin Williams (died on November 25, 2011, at 90) served as the second director of NIA, a position he held from 1983 until 1991.

Sumner J. Yaffe (died on August 10, 2011, at 88), a former center director at NICHD, was considered the "Father of Pediatric Pharmacology. He was director of NICHD’s Center for Research for Mothers and Children from 1980 until his retirement in 1980. His research focused on the role of drug metabolizing enzymes in nutrition and drug metabolism in the developing fetus, bilirubin metabolism, and the secretion of drugs in breast milk.

Elsie Yanchulis (died on August 28, 2011, at 86), a registered nurse who participated in research projects, spent 25 years at NIH and retired in the early 1980s as blood bank supervisor.