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Robert Shapiro (1935 2011) Nicholas E. Geacintov and Suse Broyde Departments of Chemistry and Biology, New York University, New York, New York, United States
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obert Shapiro passed away in his home in Great Neck, Long Island, New York, on June 15, 2011 at age 75, after an illness that lasted several years. He was a pioneer in the field of chemical toxicology beginning with his seminal work, dating back to 1970, on the nucleic acid-bisulfite reaction that is widely used today for studying the methylation status of cytosine in DNA. He was appointed to the faculty of the Chemistry Department at New York University in 1961 at age 26, promoted to the rank of Full Professor in 1970, and retired with the title of Emeritus Professor of Chemistry in 2002. After he retired, his research activities seemed to take on even more vigor, while he selflessly continued to serve on numerous Ph.D. thesis committees at NYU, missing only one Ph.D. defense when he was last hospitalized. His dedication to work was legendary and is exemplified by his last book review that he finalized for Nature, just a few days before his death (published posthumously in the August 4, 2011 issue). Professor Shapiro received his BS degree in chemistry, summa cum laude (1956), from City College of New York. He was a graduate student working under the supervision of Nobel Laureate R. B. Woodward and earned a Ph.D. degree in organic chemistry from Harvard in 1959. He subsequently joined the laboratory of Nobel Laureate Lord A. Todd at Cambridge University as a NATO Postdoctoral Fellow (1959 1960) where he studied and developed his lifelong passion for the chemistry and properties of nucleic acids, especially RNA. At NYU, his innovative studies of chemical reactions that altered the structure and function of DNA via endogenous hydrolytic mechanisms are considered by many to be landmark contributions. Examples are his early studies of the reactions of guanine derivatives with 1,2dicarbonyl compounds, the deamination of cytidine and cytosine in acidic buffer solutions, the specific deamination of RNA by sodium bisulfite, and the isolation and identification of crosslinks in nucleic acids treated with formaldehyde. This earlier work at NYU was recognized by a Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health (1971 1976). Subsequently, his work focused on DNA adducts derived from aromatic amines, involving experimental synthesis and structural characterizations, together with molecular modeling studies in collaboration with the Suse Broyde group. In the early 1990s, he closed his experimental organic chemistry laboratory but continued the collaboration involving the modeling studies with Broyde and colleagues and by actively comentoring quite a few Ph.D. students. He was always fascinated by the molecular structures of adducts and had a very keen eye for subtle details and their functional implications, and bubbled over with interpretative ideas and fertile suggestions. His incisive thinking and generosity with his time, which allowed for extended scientific conversations on an almost daily basis, provided much ongoing food for thought. Bob’s fascination with RNA dating back to his postdoc days, led to a lifelong interest and a second scientific career centered on r 2011 American Chemical Society
the putative roles of nucleic acids in the origin of life on earth and the possible genesis of life in other worlds. Bob challenged the widely held view that life began with an “RNA world”. He argued in numerous books and reviews that this scheme is implausible on synthetic grounds: the complexity of RNA is too great for the spontaneous and unassisted assembly of the first molecules to have taken place. He published an authoritative and provocative article in Scientific American (2007) in which he explained his views in language accessible to both experts and laymen, and that offered insightful hypotheses while pointing out the necessity for experimental verification of these and other theories. Indeed, Bob had a great gift for writing in a style that could be understood by laymen but still conveyed deep ideas in a manner that reached the expert as well. He wrote four very well reviewed books entitled Origins, a Skeptic’s Guide to the Creation of Life on Earth, Life Beyond Earth, (coauthored with G. Feinberg), The Human Blueprint (a book about the genome project), and Planetary Dreams, about the role of humans in the cosmos. His speculations that RNA could not have come first, founded on his deep knowledge of nucleic acid chemistry, gained him much respect from leading thinkers in the field. While his ideas have not yet achieved a dominant status, his work is widely cited and is always included among the caveats concerning the possible role of RNA in the origins of life. He had a very robust presence in this community and was invited as a keynote speaker to many international conferences on the origin of life, as well as an invited seminar speaker at leading universities. He was also frequently interviewed on radio and by journalists who sought his perspective on current origin-of-life research. In 2004, his work in this field earned him the Trotter Prize in Complexity, Information and Inference that he shared with physicist Paul Davies. Bob Shapiro had many other interests, including theater, history, and music (from Bach and Mozart to folk music). He was an expert oenophile who routinely challenged guests at his annual birthday parties to distinguish expensive, high-quality wines recommended by connoisseurs, from inexpensive varieties. He was also a physically active person who loved hiking and racquetball, and who took up running in his midfifties. He ran regularly in the annual New York City and other marathons a total of nine times and turned in surprisingly respectable finishing times. Most of all, Bob will be remembered for his incredibly sharp, incisive, and logical mind, as well as for his creative and critical insights that he gladly shared with anyone. He was a lucid and independent thinker and writer who came to his own conclusions, no matter what the trends or what the established opinions of the day were. He was a deep reader of the literature who kept his colleagues honest while generously offering invaluable
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dx.doi.org/10.1021/tx200455j | Chem. Res. Toxicol. 2011, 24, 2055–2056
Chemical Research in Toxicology
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suggestions on manuscripts and proposals. Last but not least, his presence, sharp wit, and unique sense of humor will be missed by his numerous colleagues and friends at NYU and elsewhere. He leaves behind his wife Sandra, a clinical psychologist, whom he married in 1964 and who shared many of his interests, notably, theater, hiking, and travel, and their son Michael, who composes music for films.
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dx.doi.org/10.1021/tx200455j |Chem. Res. Toxicol. 2011, 24, 2055–2056
