[RASMB] Ken van Holde

[Kirk C Aune]

Borries, thank you for the notice on Ken van Holde.  It also saddens me 
for his work influenced my career as well.  Those of us "growing-up" in 
the early years of physical biochemistry had some wonderfully gifted 
colleagues.


On 2019-11-10 15:09, Borries Demeler wrote:
> Dear Colleagues,
> I am saddened to let you know that my mentor Ken van Holde passed early
> Saturday morning, surrounded by his children, in Corvallis, Oregon.
>
> Ken was a remarkable scientist, mentor, role model, and full of humanity.
> I had the privilege to join his lab in the late 80'ties when I started my
> PhD at Oregon State University in Corvallis. He was well known from his
> biophysical work using analytical ultracentrifugation, studying hemocyanin
> and the structure and function of chromatin. He also contributed a large
> body of research to AUC methodology and solution biophysics, including
> several textbooks.
>
> His career in academia started at the University of Wisconsin in Madison
> with an undergraduate degree, and later a PhD. If I recall correctly,
> it was there that he first encountered an analytical ultracentrifuge.
> He continued as assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin in
> Milwaukee, and in 1957 he moved to the University of Illinois where
> he advanced to Professor. In 1967 he moved to Oregon, to the Dept.
> of Biochemistry and Biophysics.
>
> He was an internationally recognized scholar, having received multiple
> important awards, including the Monie A. Ferst Award, he was appointed
> to the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and
> Sciences, and he also held the title of American Cancer Society Research
> Professor. Ken was further recognized by the Guggenheim foundation, and
> received awards from NSF, EMBO, and the Centre National de la Recherche
> Scientifique. He traveled frequently and spent considerable time abroad,
> primarily in France and Germany, to conduct research with scientists
> from many different fields.
>
> When I was in Oregon, every summer he packed up a station wagon and drove
> across the country to teach the physiology course at the Marine Biological
> Laboratory in Woods Hole, where he also interacted with David Yphantis,
> who passed earlier this year.
>
> At Oregon State University, Ken was named an OSU Distinguished Professor
> in 1988, and in 1993 he retired as a Distinguished Professor Emeritus.
> His career didn't end with his retirement, he still wrote several books
> and continued to serve as associate editor of JBC. I'm sure I am leaving
> out a lot, but if you have fond memories of Ken, please share them with us.
>
> Regards, -Borries
>
> P.S. I received this from a friend of mine at OSU:
>
> Ken recently produced a book of his poetry and the last poem in the
> collection, penned in 2014 is entitled “An Old Man”. It reads:
>
> /Once,/
>
> /When I was young and frantic/
>
> /I saw an old man sitting/
>
> /alone in a garden/
>
> /I thought, how sad/
>
> /that we should come to this./
>
> //
>
> /Now I am old./
>
> /The frenzy is gone./
>
> /I have learned the beauty/
>
> /of a fading afternoon;/
>
> /the mystery of night./
>
> //
>
> /I spend hours/
>
> /sitting/
>
> /watching/
>
> /waiting./
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Kirk C Aune, PhD
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