UChicago News

Bertram Cohler, psychologist and esteemed teacher, 1938-2012

William Harms — Mon, 14 May 2012 10:54 -0500

Update: A memorial service for Bert Cohler will be held at 6 p.m. June 4 in Rockefeller Memorial Chapel.

Bertram Cohler, a UChicago psychologist and celebrated teacher who was an expert on family life and transitions, died May 9. Cohler, 73, was the William Rainey Harper Professor in the College.

Cohler’s primary appointment was in Comparative Human Development, with joint appointments held in Psychology, Psychiatry and...

Alumna Lynn Margulis dies at 73, following distinguished scientific career

Steve Koppes — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:08 -0500

National Science medalist Lynn Margulis, AB’57, Lab,'54, one of the most influential biologists of her day, died Nov. 24 at her home in Amherst, Mass., at the age of 73.

Margulis, who was a distinguished university professor in geophysical sciences at the University of Massachusetts, received the 1999 National Medal of Science from President Clinton in a White House ceremony. She was cited “for...

James Bowman, expert on pathology and blood diseases, 1923-2011

John Easton — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 11:48 -0500

Update: A memorial service for the late Dr. James E. Bowman will take place at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 1, in Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, 5850 S. Woodlawn Ave. Seating in the chapel will begin at 9 a.m. No cameras or recording equipment will be allowed in the chapel. A reception will follow at Ida Noyes Hall, 1212 E. 59th St. In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations to the Bowman Society of the University of...

Paul Meier, statistician who helped change clinical research, 1924-2011

Steve Koppes — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 09:58 -0500

University of Chicago professor emeritus Paul Meier, who exerted a major influence on the application of statistics to medical research, died Sunday, Aug. 7 at his home in New York City. He was 87.

“Paul was a friend and colleague, as well as one of the most influential statisticians of an important era,” said Stephen Stigler, the Ernest DeWitt Burton Distinguished Service Professor in Statistics. “He left an indelible mark on us, and through his research on...

Vijay Dayal, head-and-neck surgeon and otolaryngologist, 1936-2011

John Easton — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 12:04 -0500

Vijay S. Dayal, professor emeritus of surgery and an internationally known authority on the neurophysiology of the auditory and vestibular nerves and on treatment of diseases of hearing and balance, such as Meniere’s disease, died June 30 at age 74.

As a physician, Dayal had a reputation for listening intently to his patients, advancing carefully and relentlessly toward a precise diagnosis and performing elegant operations. His colleagues, patients, friends and family...

Patrick Billingsley, probability theorist and actor, 1925-2011

Steve Koppes — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 10:58 -0500

Patrick Billingsley, an influential probability theorist who also became an accomplished actor of stage and screen, died Friday, April 22 in his Hyde Park home after a short illness. He was 85.

“He’s most known for his series of books in advanced probability theory,” said Steve Lalley, UChicago professor in statistics. “They are all models of exposition. They really are fine works of mathematical writing. Several generations of graduate students in both...

Bruce Winstein, physicist, 1943-2011

Sarah Galer — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 16:54 -0500

Bruce Winstein, an experimental physicist who studied the afterglow of the universe’s birth, died Feb. 28 after a four-year battle with cancer. He was 67.

Winstein, the Samuel K. Allison Distinguished Service Professor in Physics, the Enrico Fermi Institute and the College, was known as a punctilious leader of experiments measuring the aftermath of the big bang in two fundamental fields of physics...

Melvin Griem, radiation therapy pioneer, 1925–2011

John Easton — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 12:22 -0500

A leader in the early days of radiation therapy for cancer, Melvin L. Griem, professor emeritus in radiation and cellular oncology, died of pneumonia Feb. 7 at The Grove at Lincoln Park in Chicago. He was 85.

Griem was a pioneer who helped to establish radiation oncology—the use of radiation to treat cancer—as a separate field from radiology, which focused on diagnostic imaging. He was among the first to work with heavy particle emitters instead of X–rays, and...

Eugene Goldwasser, biochemist behind blockbuster anemia drug, 1922–2010

John Easton — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 11:43 -0500

Eugene Goldwasser, the scientist who first purified erythropoietin—the hormone that stimulates the production of red blood cells—died from complications related to advanced prostate cancer on Friday, Dec. 17 at his Hyde Park home. He was 88.

Generally regarded as the “father of EPO,” a drug that helped launch the biotechnology revolution, Goldwasser was the Alice Hogge and Arthur A. Baer Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He led...

Charles M. Jacobs, health care pioneer and creative force in the arts, 1933-2010

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 13:18 -0500

Charles M. Jacobs, AB,’53, JD’56, a founding member of the Compass Players improvisational troupe who went on to invent a quality-control methodology that made evidence-based health care widely available, died Oct. 25 in Boston. He was 77 and a resident of Brookline, Mass.

Born Charles David Jacobs on May 28, 1933, in Brooklyn, N.Y., he acquired the middle initial “M” through a process now obscure to family members, but it stuck.

Jacobs won a...