Obituary for Professor Garold S. Yost (1948–2014) - Chemical

Obituary for Professor Garold S. Yost (1948–2014) .... A former chemistry PhD candidate at Queen's University in Canada who confessed to poisoning a...
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Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET), and the International Society for the Study of Xenobiotics (ISSX), where he served on numerous awards, membership, and education committees, as well as scientific liaison task forces. He was also a very active reviewer for NIH and was a member of several ad hoc and permanent study sections, including the Xenobiotic and Nutrient Disposition and Action Study Section (XNDA). Gary will always be remembered as a wonderful, dear friend and mentor. He graduated 19 Ph.D. students, many of whom have gone on to successful positions in the pharmaceutical industry, government, and academia. He often entertained an entourage of friends and students at wonderful restaurants during scientific meetings where the evenings were always filled with good food, wine, stimulating conversation, and of course plenty of laughter. Gary loved chemical toxicology and bioactivation mechanisms in particular. He would spend hours talking with his students and colleagues about different potential toxic mechanisms of his favorite reactive intermediates, such as imine methides, quinones, and quinone methides. Gary, in his own words, loved “hand-waving” and suggesting seemingly absurd experiments that only he believed would work out in the end. His optimism was his strength and was one of his greatest qualities as a mentor and scientist. Our deepest condolences go to his wife Barbara, his wonderful family, and his friends.

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t is with deep regret that we report the death of our colleague and friend, Garold “Gary” S. Yost. Gary passed away in the company of his loving family and wife, Barbara, on June 23, 2014. Gary was a major figure in the field of chemical toxicology. He was born in Denver, CO in 1948. Gary received a B.S. from Bethel College in 1971, an M.A. in organic chemistry from the University of Hawaii in 1974, and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Colorado State University in 1977. He then pursued postdoctoral studies at the University of California, San Francisco working with Paul Ortiz de Montellano on mechanisms of cytochrome P450 oxidation reactions, an interest he would enthusiastically continue exploring throughout his career. Gary began his academic career at Towson State University during which he was also a visiting lecturer at Johns Hopkins University. Here, he collaborated with Catherine Fenselau and learned how valuable mass spectrometry could be to the study of drug metabolism and chemical toxicology. They coauthored the best paper of the year in Drug Metabolism and Disposition in 1982. Gary then moved to Washington State University in Pullman, WA in 1981, where he undertook early pioneering work on lung cytochrome P450 enzymes catalyzing bioactivation mechanisms of chemical toxicants, such as 3-methylindole. From 1987 until his death, Gary continued his mechanistic studies at the University of Utah in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology on P450 catalyzed bioactivation mechanisms, with an emphasis on dehydrogenation reactions and the roles of such processes on the pneumotoxicity of various chemicals, Gary published over one hundred original research articles, multiple reviews, and book chapters. He served as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Chemical Research in Toxicology (CRT) from 1991 to 1993, 1996 to 1999, and 2005 to 2008. Gary published 18 manuscripts in CRT, including several wellcited review articles on 3-methylindole pneumotoxicity and dehydrogenation mechanisms.1,2 He was also Associate Editor for Drug Metabolism and Disposition and served on the editorial boards of numerous other highly respected toxicology journals, including Chemico-Biological Interactions, Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, and Toxicological Sciences. Gary was an enthusiastic participant in several scientific organizations, including the Society of Toxicology (SOT), American Society of Pharmacology and © 2014 American Chemical Society



REFERENCES

(1) Yost, G. S. (1989) Mechanisms of 3-methylindole pneumotoxicity. Chem. Res. Toxicol. 2, 273−279. (2) Skiles, G. L., and Yost, G. S. (1996) Mechanistic studies on the cytochrome P450-catalyzed dehydrogenation of 3-methylindole. Chem. Res. Toxicol. 9, 291−297.

Published: July 28, 2014 1327

dx.doi.org/10.1021/tx500301c | Chem. Res. Toxicol. 2014, 27, 1327−1327