[RASMB] Ken van Holde

[Walter Stafford]

Sad news, indeed. Ken had a strong and lasting influence on many scientific careers, including my own. I remember his especially lucid lectures in the Physiology Course in Woods Hole in 1968 and years following. His influence lives on through his books and his students.



*********************************
Walter Stafford
wstafford3 at walterstafford.com

"The things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone, but things you do for others remain as your legacy." --Kalu Ndukwe Kalu

> On Nov 10, 2019, at 19:00, Michael Morris <m.morris at sydney.edu.au> wrote:
> 
> Who doesn’t have a copy – or several copies – of Physical Biochemistry?
> 
> I’m looking fondly through my marked-up copies now…
> 
> Ken is part of our Pantheon.
> 
> 
> On 11/11/19, 8:01 am, "RASMB on behalf of Kirk C Aune" <rasmb-bounces at list.rasmb.org on behalf of kaune at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> 
>    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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