[RASMB] Ken van Holde

[Olwyn Byron]

Dear Borries,

What sad news.  Thanks to you and others for sharing with us memories of Ken.  I think I met him only once or twice, briefly and remember him as being very smiley and gentle.  I was in awe of the man who wrote “Physical Biochemistry” - the book that Steve Harding requires all his PhD students to study before they so much as polish a quartz window!  I still have my hand-written notes on chapters 4, 5 and 7, and my own copy of the book does the rounds of PhD students here.

I would like to express my condolences to Ken’s children and wider family.

Best wishes,
Olwyn

On 11 Nov 2019, at 06:17, Fumio Arisaka <fumio.arisaka at gmail.com<mailto:fumio.arisaka at gmail.com>> wrote:

Dear Borries, Thank you for the timely obituary. I also heard that the memorial Service
will be planned, but do not know the details.

Big loss, indeed.
Ken was also my mentor since I was a Ph.D. student under his guidance.
While I was a student there, Wolffang Weischet was working as a postdoc.
(See Van Holde and Weischet, Biopolymers, 1978) Experience at OSU with Ken has been
the driving force in my scientific carrier.
After obtained my Ph.D., I had the opportunity to participate in the Physiology course in 1977
which was organized by Ken. It was wonderful and immemorable.
 --Fumio Arisaka



2019年11月11日(月) 11:35 Walter Stafford <wstafford3 at walterstafford.com<mailto:wstafford3 at walterstafford.com>>:
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<mailto: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<mailto: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<mailto:rasmb-bounces at list.rasmb.org> on behalf of kaune at sbcglobal.net<mailto: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./
_______________________________________________
RASMB mailing list
RASMB at list.rasmb.org<mailto:RASMB at list.rasmb.org>
https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/x_GGC71ZgLtkKYJ5T8GfvA?domain=list.rasmb.org

   --
   Kirk C Aune, PhD
   7647 Cortona Drive
   Granger, IN 46530
   (574) 286-3262
   Linux User #1720


   _______________________________________________
   RASMB mailing list
   RASMB at list.rasmb.org<mailto:RASMB at list.rasmb.org>
   https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/x_GGC71ZgLtkKYJ5T8GfvA?domain=list.rasmb.org



_______________________________________________
RASMB mailing list
RASMB at list.rasmb.org<mailto:RASMB at list.rasmb.org>
http://list.rasmb.org/listinfo.cgi/rasmb-rasmb.org

_______________________________________________
RASMB mailing list
RASMB at list.rasmb.org<mailto:RASMB at list.rasmb.org>
http://list.rasmb.org/listinfo.cgi/rasmb-rasmb.org
_______________________________________________
RASMB mailing list
RASMB at list.rasmb.org<mailto:RASMB at list.rasmb.org>
http://list.rasmb.org/listinfo.cgi/rasmb-rasmb.org

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://list.rasmb.org/pipermail/rasmb-rasmb.org/attachments/20191111/c8b0ac03/attachment-0002.html>