David Mann Phillips

David was born on April 25, 1938 in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Phillip G. and Ruth (Nee Mann) Phillips, raised in Newtown, MA. David was predeceased by his parents and two brothers, Walter and Phillip Phillips.

David graduated from Northeastern University with a B.S., and earned a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School.

David had a long and successful career as a Senior Scientist at the Center for Biomedical Research of the Population Council, New York, NY. He began his research in reproductive biology where he made many notable discoveries. In the mid 1980’s he redirected his focus to pursue research on HIV and AIDS. One of his major achievements was identifying the mechanism for the sexual transmission of HIV, which contributed to further pioneering research in prevention strategies, disease management and one day a cure. His life long research resulted in well over 200 scientific publications.

He had a lifelong passion for entomology and photography. In retirement David published two books; art and architecture of insects (ForeEdge, An imprint of University Press of New England, 2014), which includes his scanning electron micrographs, and Insects of North America, A Field Guide to Over 300 Insects (FALCONGUIDES, an imprint of The Rowan & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc., 2019), which include his photographs.

In 2002, David married his wife Robin A. Maguire who survives him. They met at the Population Council and together their collaboration enabled David’s research to leave the laboratory bench and enter into further development resulting in clinical trails in the Dominican Republic, Chile, Thailand and South Africa. Shortly after retirement they moved to Cape Cod and reside in Cummaquid MA.

David is survived by his beloved children from a previous marriage to Stephanie G. Phillips; Rebecca Rachmany, Ruth Teitelbaum, Benjamin Phillips (Tracy) and Sara Budde (Brett), and the proud grandfather of; Maya and Tevel Rachmany, Louis, Walter and Saraviva Teitelbaum, Noa and Eli Phillips, Walker and Rocket Budde, and a great granddaughter Anna Teitelbaum. He is also survived by his sister-in-laws Jaye Phillips and Sandy Warner, and by his nephew David Phillips and niece Beth Whitehair and their descendants.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in David’s memory may be made to Long Pasture Wildlife Sanctuary, 345 Bone Hill Rd. Cummaquid, MA 02637. A celebration of David’s life will be held at a future date.

The family would like to thank the staff at The Terrace, Orleans MA for their wonderful dedication and loving care in David’s final days.