I was one of his students in Chem 11 and Chem 12 in 1972-73. I remember his lectures well in Schlundt Hall and enjoyed them very much. He was a funny and personable professor. In the middle of Chem 12 he was ill for several weeks with what turned out to be Addison's disease. When he returned he explained what had happened to him medically. Obviously he triumphed over the disease and did not let it slow him down.
I am sorry to hear of his passing.
A little over 20 years ago, I came to the U.S. for the first time in my life as a graduate student to the chemistry department at MIZZOU. I wanted to find a professor who could sponsor me; coming to the U.S. from a non-English speaking country, my English was perhaps not good enough to work as a TA (typical for first year graduate student at MU). I knocked on the door to Dick’s office. After the meeting, Dick accepted me as his RA student. This was a great deal to someone like me for being a stranger to a foreign land.
“I got very lucky by doing this research on nitrosamines so I could support you guys”, he told us in a farewell party at Dr. Bao’s (his postdoc, but she was leaving due to her husband’s new job) home on an early August day, 1992. He was 55 that day.
He was modest by saying that he was lucky. In fact, he was an authority on nitrosamine research in this world. One of his findings, a quick nitrosation pathway for certain type of tertiary amines, was cited by the famous Jerry March (page 638 in the 4th edition) in “Advanced Organic Chemistry”, a bible for an organic chemist.
I was involved in one of his two main research areas, metabolism pathways for N-Nitrosodiethanolamine (NDELA) and how those metabolic intermediates and products interfere with and damage biomolecules such as DNA in living species. His other research mostly involved nitrosation of tertiary amines, amides, and certain amino acids.
Dick helped me a lot later when it was time for me to apply for my green card. He not only wrote letters twice to the immigration official for my petition but also asked his friend, the late Dr. Michejda of NCI, to write a letter on my behalf.
I visited Dick at his retirement home in Mukilteo, WA in the summer of 2007. He really enjoyed his retirement life and the travels to foreign countries in Asia, Europe and Africa. Oh, did he love taking pictures! The balcony of house faces west and from there, you could see a beautiful sun setting into the Puget Sound, Mt. Olympus and the Pacific Ocean. Dick had a collection of dozens of pictures he took of that sunset.
Dick really was a very generous and warm hearted person. He cared a great deal about the wellbeing of his former students. Even after we left his group, he kept in very close contact with each of us. After we graduated, he helped several of us land postdoc postions at several research labs in the Bioengineering Division of MIT in the late 1990s. I remember for at least twice when he traveled to Boston, he took all of his former students in Boston area for dinner.
Dick will be greatly missed by every one of us !
Rest in peace, Dick !
