In Memoriam
Melvin J. Gordon, Tootsie Roll CEO and supporter of scientific research at UChicago
M
elvin J. Gordon, CEO of Chicago-based Tootsie Roll Industries and a longtime supporter of scientific research at the University of Chicago, died in January 2015 at age 95. In 2006, Melvin Gordon and his wife, Ellen, made a generous donation toward the construction of the Ellen and Melvin Gordon Center for Integrative Science, which houses more than 100 senior scientists, along with 700 additional researchers and students. Visitors can enjoy Tootsie Roll confections as they pass through the lobbies of the Gordon Center, which have bowls stocked with a neverending supply.
Andrei Tokmakoff, PhD, the Henry G. Gale Distinguished Service Professor and an Institute for Biophysical Dynamics faculty member, whose lab space is located in the Gordon Center, said the building was instrumental in his decision to come to the University of Chicago. “The integrated physical and biological sciences environment was key,” he said. The Gordons were named Honorary Fellows of the Biological Sciences Division in 2008. Throughout Gordon’s more than 50 years as chairman and CEO, Tootsie Roll Industries saw tremendous success. Gordon led the company through a series of acquisitions, which added Dots, Junior Mints, and Sugar Babies to its portfolio of well-known brands. For those who knew him, Gordon represented the very highest values in business and acted with uncompromising integrity, wisdom and generosity. More than 300 people celebrated Gordon at a reception in Ida Noyes Hall in February. In addition to his wife, their four daughters and Tootsie Roll executives, longtime friend Fredric Coe, MD’61,
AB’57, SB’57, professor of medicine at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, also spoke at the tribute. “Everybody is fitted for something and when you’re doing what you’re perfectly fitted for, happiness comes,” said Coe. “Mel was perfectly fitted to be a captain of industry. He had the nerve, the brilliancy, the desire to win.” Gordon also had a desire to win people’s hearts with his music. A jazz musician, he wrote some 65 big band jazz songs across more than 70 years, many of which he recorded.
PHOTO BY ROBERT KOZLOFF
PBS SERIES
M A R I N E B I O LO G I C A L L A B O R AT O R Y A F F I L I AT I O N
Renowned researcher featured in documentary about cancer
MBL leader named
The late Janet Rowley, LAB’42, PhB’44, SB’46, MD’48, was one of the researchers featured in filmmaker Ken Burns’ “Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies” series that aired this spring on PBS. Rowley, the Blum-Riese Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine, Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, and Human Genetics at the University of Chicago, was a pioneer in connecting the development of cancer with genetic abnormalities. Her work was featured in the second segment of the three-part, six-hour series based on the 2010 Pulitzer Prizewinning book “The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer” by Siddhartha Mukherjee. For more on the PBS series and cancer research at the University of Chicago, please visit sciencelife.uchospitals.edu.
uchospitals.edu/midway
Huntington Willard, PhD, an innovative leader in the fields of genetics and genome biology who has built comprehensive research centers at leading institutions, was appointed president and director of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Willard has earned a reputation as a groundbreaking scientist, outstanding scientific leader and talented educator. From 2003 to 2014, he was the founding director of the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy, a highly interdisciplinary unit spanning life sciences, engineering, medicine, social sciences and the humanities. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. “Hunt Willard is an outstanding scholar and a proven scientific leader who has created programs that have earned international respect,” said University of Chicago President Robert J. Zimmer, also chairman of the MBL’s Board of Trustees. “He exemplifies the values that guide the Marine Biological Laboratory and the University of Chicago — wide-ranging collaboration, eagerness to explore and define new fields of study, and a dedication to discovery through engaged education.” MEDICINE ON THE MIDWAY
SPRING 2015
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