Wendell William Weber

It is with great sadness that the family of Wendell William Weber, PhD, MD, announces his death on Sunday, January 28, 2018, at the age of 92 years. Wendell was born in Maplewood, MO on September 2, 1925. “Red,” as he was known to his classmates because of his red hair, was an avid St. Louis Cardinals fan. He received his BA in Chemistry from Central College, Fayette, MO in 1945, his PhD in Physical Chemistry from Northwestern University in 1950, and his MD from the University of Chicago in 1959. He completed his medical residency at the University of California at San Francisco in 1962 and the following year held a Special Fellowship with the U.S. Public Health Service at University College London. In 1963 he joined the Department of Pharmacology at New York University Medical School as Assistant Professor, becoming full Professor in 1973. He joined the University of Michigan faculty in 1974 as Professor of Pharmacology in the Medical School and held an additional appointment as Professor of Toxicology in the School of Public Health from 1986 to 1997. A pioneer in pharmacogenetics, Dr. Weber's research focused on the study of genetic traits with the goal of understanding variations in genetic susceptibility to the effects of drugs, foods and other exogenous substances. His work helped establish the concept that drug therapies could be tailored to individual drug response. A devoted teacher, Dr. Weber mentored numerous medical and doctoral students and post-doctoral fellows, and he worked as course director for the Department of Pharmacology's medical student course for 12 years. He also served on many national committees and journal editorial boards. He was named Distinguished Faculty Lecturer at the University of Michigan in 1993 and was made an honorary member of the Society of Toxicology in 1994. Dr. Weber was appointed Professor Emeritus in1998. Wendell will be remembered for his life-long love of learning, his love of oil painting, dogs, and a great hamburger. He is survived by his wife of 65 years LaDonna Tavis Weber, his children Jane Holt Weber (Lawrence Becker) of New York, NY, and Theodore Wendell Weber (Kristina Szutor) of St. John's, Newfoundland, and his grandchildren Nathan Holt Becker and Nina Frances Weber. A private family service will be held in Ann Arbor. Donations in memory of Wendell may be made to the University of Michigan Department of Pharmacology Graduate Education Fund, The University of Michigan Office of University Development, 3003 South State Street, Suite 9000, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1288, 1-888-518-7888, https://leadersandbest.umich.edu/find/#!/mimed/mimed/pharmacology.