PEOPLE
Obituaries Joseph H. Burckhalter, a retired profes sor of medicinal chemistry who co-in vented the first stable antibody-labeling agent, died on May 9 at the age of 91. Anative of Columbia, S.C., Burckhalter received a B.S. in chemistry from the Uni versity of South Carolina in 1934. He went on to earn an M.S. in organic chemistry in 1938 from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and a Ph.D. in medici nal chemistry in 1942 from the Universi ty of Michigan. Following graduation, Burckhalter took a position as a senior research chemist at Parke-Davis in Detroit. In 1947, he joined the University of Kansas as the first chair of the department of medicinal chemistry and in 1960, he left Kansas to teach at the University ofMichigan, where he became the first chair of the university's interde partmental graduate program in medici nal chemistry In 1983, he became a re search professor at the Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, a position he held until retirement. While at Parke-Davis, Burckhalter was coinventor of the antimalarial agent amodiaquin. He later worked with Robert Seiwald to develop the antibody-labeling agent fluorescein isothiocyanate. This yel low-green fluorescent compound played an important role in identifying the cause ofAIDS and is still widely used for its ac curate diagnosis of infectious diseases. Burckhalter held numerous offices in local sections and technical divisions of ACS. In 1981, the Division of Medicinal Chemistry held a national meeting sym posium in his honor. Burckhalter is survived by his wife Julia; two sons; a daughter; and two grandsons. Joined ACS in 1942; emeritus member. Carlton F. Dresden, professor emeritus of chemistry at Slippery Rock University, in Pennsylvania, died onjan. 2 at the age of 72. Dresden earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Wisconsin's Platteville State Teacher's College and aPh.D. in bio chemistry from the University of Wis consin, Madison. He joined the faculty at Slippery Rock in 1959. In addition to his work at Slippery Rock, Dresden enjoyed research sabbaticals at Louisiana State University School of Med icine; the University of Colorado, Boulder; the University of California, Santa Barbara; and Los Alamos National Laboratories. Dresden retired from Slippery Rock in 1994. He moved to Arizona in 2001 and tu HTTP://WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG
tored chemistry students at Mesa Com munity College. His family and friends have endowed the Carlton F. Dresden Memorial Scholarship at Slippery Rock in tribute to Dresden's ideals, values, professional interests, and commitment to helping students. The schol arship is awarded to a junior or senior pur suing a bachelor of science degree in chem istry with a concentration in biochemistry Dresden is survived by his wife, Marilyn; a daughter; and a son. Joined ACS in 1959. Lawrence A. Funke, director of the ACS Petroleum Research Fund, died on Oct. 5 at the age of 55. The suspected cause of death is cardioaneurysm. At the time ofhis death, Funke was a 16year employee of ACS at its Washington, D C , headquarters. He began his career there as an assistant program administrator for the Petroleum Research Fund and was named program di rector in 1998. Under his management, the ACSPRFgrewsteadily and provided re search grants and seed money to thousands of young investigators. In2004,Funkeled the 50th anniversary celebration for PRF and took on the addi tional role of directing the society's Office of Research Grants. He also worked close ly with the society's Committee on Chem ical Safety and took pride in helping to pro mote the profession of chemistry and to support research advances in the field. A native of Covington, Ky, Funke re ceived a B.S. in chemistry from the Uni versity of Dayton in 1971 and a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from Michigan State University in 1976. After a postdoctoral fellowship at Northwestern University, Funke spent six years on the faculty at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Before joining the ACS staff, he was on the faculty ofthe College ofNotre Dame of Maryland, in Baltimore, from 1983 to 1988, where he was a professor of chemistry and chairman of the chemistry department. A devoted family man, he served many years as a scout leader for his son's Boy Scout troop and did volunteer work at St. Louis Catholic Church in Clarksville, Md., where he was a member. Survivors include his wife, Mary, and a son. Joined ACS in 1973. Maurice H. F. Wilkins, one of three win ners of the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiol ogy or Medicine for the discovery of
DNA's double-helix structure, died on Oct. 5 at the age of 87. Wilkins shared the prize with Francis H. C. Crick and James D. Watson for the seven years he spent experimentally veri fying their theoretical model of DNA's double-helix structure. His initial work on X-ray diffractionmethodologies had allowed for improved pictures of D N A molecules, which inspired Wat son and Crick to de velop their hypothet ical model. Wilkins died in a London hospital, according to a statement from King's College London, where Wilkins had performed his Nobel-winning research and was still a member of the staff "Professor Wilkins was a towering fig ure, one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century and a man of immense hu manity He will be much missed," said Rick Trainor, principal of King's College, in the same statement. "Maurice Wilkins played an absolutely critical role in one ofthe most important dis coveries in human history— the elucidation of the structure of DNA, the primary blue print for life," addedAdrian C. Hayday, aprofessor of immunobiology at King's College. Wilkins, who was born in New Zealand in 1916, received an undergraduate degree in physics from St. John's College, Cam bridge, and a Ph.D from Birmingham Uni versity in 1940 for his thesis on phos phorescence. He then worked on the separation of uranium isotopes for use in bombs and spent time in Berkeley, Calif, as part of the Manhattan Project. After World War II ended, Wilkins moved to St. Andrews University, in Scot land, and began studying biophysics. When the biophysics project moved to King's College in 1946, he focused on ultrasonics and microscopic techniques before turn ing to X-ray diffraction studies of D N A and sperm heads. Wilkins became assistant director of the Medical Research Council Unit in 1950 and deputy director in 1955. He received the Albert Lasker Award (with Watson and Crick) in 1960 and was made Companion of the British Empire in 1962. Obituaries are written by Victoria Gilman. The obituary for Maurice Η. Ε Wilkins was written by Aalok M eh ta. Obituary notices may be sent by e-mail to v_gilman@acs. org and should include detailed educational and profes sional history. C&EN
/ OCTOBER
25, 2004
71
