Robert “Robin” Lickely Post, a former instructor and visiting scholar in physiology in Penn’s School of Medicine, passed away on January 26 following a long illness. He was 100.

Dr. Post was born in Philadelphia. He obtained an undergraduate degree and an MD from Harvard and, following an internship in Hartford, CT, briefly joined Penn’s faculty in 1946 as an instructor in physiology. After two years, he joined the faculty of Vanderbilt University Medical School in the department of physiology, where he rose through the academic ranks and became a professor of physiology in 1966. He remained at Vanderbilt until his retirement in 1991, when he and his wife Elizabeth returned to Philadelphia. After his return, Dr. Post served as a visiting scholar and a consultant in the department of physiology at Penn.

Dr. Post’s research, conducted at Vanderbilt, laid much of the groundwork for scientific understanding of the way in which cells maintain their ionic composition through the action of a family of proteins called ion pumps. His cleverly designed experiments and innovative logic placed the central roles of phosphorylated intermediates and occluded cations at the center of later Nobel Prize-winning experiments on pump action.

“Robin Post was a widely appreciated inspiration to those familiar with the man and his work,” said Dr. Post’s Penn colleagues in a tribute. “He was a patient and logical thinker, a thoughtful adviser, and a kind and gentle colleague. His scientific contributions live on and his passing is a great loss to all of us who knew him and valued his presence.”