Jeanne “Sybil” Wallman Holtzer, Cell and Developmental Biology
Jeanne “Sybil” Wallman Holtzer, of Philadelphia, died on October 21 at the age of 90.
She spent her entire professional career conducting medical research and collaborating with her husband, the late Howard Holtzer, professor emeritus of cell and developmental biology. He died on November 5, 2014 (Almanac December 9, 2014).
Dr. Holtzer was a graduate of Western College for Women in Ohio, and earned a PhD in zoology from the University of Chicago. From December 1954 until June 1957 she was a research associate in medical anatomy at the US Public Health Service (USPHS). She then joined Penn in January 1959 as a research associate in the School of Medicine’s department of anatomy-chemistry which became known as cell and developmental biology in July 1979. That position ended in June 2000 due to lack of funding but she then became a monthly temporary employee there from June 2001 until February 2004 before retiring.
Contributions in her memory may be made to the Howard Holtzer Prize for Research by a Postdoctoral Fellow, awarded annually to postdoctoral students for exceptional graduate research publications in cell and developmental biology, and sent to the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, 1157 BRBII/III, Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6058.
She is survived by her sister, Eleanor “Beryl” Wallman Bennewith.