DEATHS
Dr.
Stein of Orthopaedics
Dr. Irvin Stein, former professor of orthopaedic surgery at the School of Medicine died of congestive heart failure at Johns Hopkins Hospital, on February 3 at the age of 93. He was born in Fayetteville, NC in 1906, and enrolled in the University of North Carolina at the age 15. He received his medical training at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, and did his intern and resident training at Johns Hopkins University Medical Center and Penn.
After graduating from the University of North Carolina and Thomas Jefferson Medical College, Dr. Stein served as an orthopaedic resident at the University between 1932 and 1933. For the next five decades starting in 1934, Dr. Stein devoted himself to teaching orthopaedic surgery to many generations of medical students and orthopaedic residents at Penn as a clinical professor and, more recently, as emeritus professor.
"In his term as professor on the orthopaedic staff at the University, he was an inspiration to the students, residents, and staff associated with him, always seeking to delve deeply into the basis for clinical disability," according to the University of Pennsylvania Orthopedic Journal. He also represented the Department of Orthopaedics at the Philadelphia General Hospital, and he was the primary author of a textbook, Living Bone in Health and Disease, published in 1955, on bone metabolism and physiology, which was widely read internationally.
His latest involvement--the Irvin and Dorothy Stein Visiting Professorship--will maintain his legacy of teaching future medical students, residents, and faculty. This generous gift to the Orthopaedic Department, which will fund future visiting lectureships by leading orthopaedic surgeons, is just one of many contributions that Dr. Stein has made to the Orthopaedic Department throughout his long and distinguished career.
He also served as the Chairman of the Department of orthopaedic surgery at Albert Einstein Medical Center from 1962 to 1972.
He is survived by his wife, Bunny Levy Hutzler; daughters Jane Finerman, Margery Schab, and Kathy Sachs; 10 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren. Contributions may be made to the University of Pennsylvania.
Robert Ferrell of Purchasing
Almanac has recently been notified of the death of Robert Morrison Ferrell, former director of Purchasing at Penn. Mr. Ferrell passed away on October 4, 1999, at the age of 81 after an almost year-long battle with spinal cancer.
He was born in Zanesville, Ohio and attended Ohio Wesleyan University where he was a scholar/athlete and a member of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. He had been a Col. in the U.S. Army, a career Quartermaster Officer and veteran of WWII and the Korean War. Following twenty-seven years of Army service, he was director of Purchasing at Penn from 1969 to 1984.
He is survived by his wife, Catherine Smith Ferrell; three sons, Thomas, Stephen and Richard; six grandchildren; a sister Marjory; and a brother, Richard Ferrell.
Dr. Martin Orne of Psychiatry
At presstime, Almanac learned of the death of Dr. Martin T. Orne, professor emeritus of psychiatry, who died February 11 of cancer at the age of 72. A memorial service will be held at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow at West Laurel Hill Chapel, Belmont Avenue, Bala Cynwyd. An obituary is planned for next week.
Dr. Williamson, Biochem/Biophysics
Dr. John R. Williamson,
professor of biochemistry and biophysics died on February 3 at the age of
66.
A graduate of Oxford University with both a B.A. (1956) and an M.A. (1959) in biochemistry/pharmacology, Dr. Williamson also received his D.Phil. there, doing doctoral research with Dr. R.B. Fisher. Following a post doctoral fellowship at Oxford with Sir Hans Krebs, he joined the Baker Clinic Research Lab at Harvard Medical School as a research fellow with Drs. Albert Reinold and G.F. Cahill. In 1963, Dr. Williamson was recruited by Dr. Britton Chance to the Johnson Research Foundation here as a research associate. He was appointed assistant professor of biochemistry and biophysics in 1965 and became a full professor in 1975.
Dr. Williamson published over 300 articles in scientific journals. His early research made a range of discoveries and key descriptions of cellular bioenergetics and regulation of intermediary metabolism and later he focussed on molecular mechanisms of hormanal signal transduction.
Dr. Williamson served as chair of the biochemistry graduate group from 1993 to 1997. He served on a number of editorial boards of scientific journals, including the Journal of Biological Chemistry and Biochimica Biophysica Acta. He was a member of the Biochemical Society of the United Kingdom and the New York Academy of Science.
Dr. Williamson is survived by his wife, Diana; three sons, Michael, Robert and Alexander; and two grandchildren. A memorial service is planned by the family for the spring.
Almanac, Vol. 46, No. 21, February 15, 2000