George Preti, former adjunct professor in dermatology who also worked in the department of OB/GYN at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, died on March 3 from bladder cancer. He was 75.

Raised in Brooklyn, New York, Dr. Preti graduated from Fort Hamilton High School in 1962. He earned a BS in chemistry in 1966 from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn (now Tandon School of Engineering of New York University), and then he received his PhD in chemistry in 1971 from MIT. He studied under the renowned advisor and innovator of mass spectrometry, Klaus Biemann. In 1970, while completing his doctoral research, he co-authored a paper in Science, “Search for Organic Material in Lunar Fines by Mass Spectrometry.” 

In 1971, he took on appointments at both the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, as a research associate, and in the University of Pennsylvania’s chemistry department as a lecturer. He continued to hold positions at both Monell and Penn for almost his entire career. 

At Penn, he went on to serve as a research assistant professor, then adjunct assistant and then associate professor, all in obstetrics and gynecology. During the 1990s, he was an adjunct professor in dermatology. He also served on the mass spectronomy advisory board in the department of metabolic diseases at CHOP. 

Dr. Preti became a full member of Monell in 1986. He published numerous articles for Monell, including the chemistry and biology of human body odors and their potential diagnostic significance. Patents were eventually granted for some of the work described in his early publications. He also served various administrative appointments. 

Over the years, Dr. Preti and his colleagues studied volatile emanations from a wide variety of species, though his focus was on human odors and their meaning, including underarm odor, bad breath, and a diagnostic tool to detect early-stage ovarian cancer using odor biomarkers in blood. To the latter end, he was part of a collaborative team with Penn’s Working Dog Center to train dogs to “sniff out” the cancer in patient blood samples, and a physicist to develop sensors to distinguish between blood samples from cancer patients and healthy volunteers. 

Dr. Preti was an active counselor to young scientists. He was a longtime member of the Committee of Arts and Sciences for the Franklin Institute and a member of the Sensory Advisory Board for Fragrances and Oral Care for Symrise, Inc. Dr. Preti served as the executive editor of the scholarly journal Chemosensory Perception for 13 years, and in 2002, the American Chemical Society recognized him for promoting chemistry to the general public through the media. 

He is survived by his wife, Kathleen; two children, Gregory Preti (Lauren) and Stephanie Ruscin (and husband Mark); sister, Christine Crockett (David); and grandchildren, Aaron Preti, and Hannah and Campbell Ruscin. A memorial celebration of his life and work is being planned.