(1929-2020)
Dr. George Drysdale, emeritus faculty member of our department, died March 17, 2020. We are saddened by the loss of our friend and colleague. Dr. Drysdale was a member of our department from 1954, when he arrived as a postdoctoral fellow to work with Mildred Cohn. He joined the faculty of the department in 1957 and continued as a member of our department faculty for the rest of his life.
Remembrances from colleagues
Carl Frieden
George Drysdale, a long-time member of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, died March 17, 2020 of complications from lung cancer. Two anecdotes he told about himself characterized him. The first was when he had his first haircut at age 2 and the barber asked his name. “My name” he said, “is George Drysdale and I don’t say a word.” Even at 2 he had a dry wit that stayed with him the rest of his life. Indeed, George was not one to talk a lot except with close friends. He eschewed social gatherings not because he didn’t have opinions but just because he was not comfortable in large groups. That was unfortunate because he had a lot to say. The second story he would tell occurred while in elementary school. His parents were afraid he was not learning to read and asked his teacher about it. The teacher replied that George read perfectly well-he was just not interested in why Jack and Jill went up the hill. Indeed, George loved to read on many different topics. His Kindle was loaded with books. The depth of his knowledge was impressive. He was one of the smartest people I have ever known.
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, George graduated high school at 16, went to Birmingham-Southern College and received a B.S. degree in 1948. He went to the University of Wisconsin’s Department of Biochemistry for graduate studies, where he received an M.S. degree in 1950 and a Ph.D. in 1952.
As a graduate student with Henry Lardy at Wisconsin, George did ground-breaking work on fatty acid oxidation. While George and I were at Wisconsin at the same time, we never met since I was a graduate student in the Department of Chemistry. In 1954 he applied for a postdoctoral position with Mildred Cohn at Washington University Medical School in St. Louis. Mildred had completed building a Mass Spectrometer and was interested in the mechanism of action of phosphorylases. Together George and Mildred published several papers on enzymatic mechanisms. George and I met when I came to Washington University in 1955. In 1957 we both joined the faculty and George continued his interest in enzymatic mechanism, with a particular interest in those enzymes containing flavin nucleotides. During his years as a member of the faculty George had a very small laboratory and published very little. He once said he attacked a problem of interest but after solving the problem felt the answer was trivial and not worth publishing. As expected, however, he read the literature compulsively and was always willing to express an opinion. In my own research I would reach a conclusion I presented to George and he would give me a completely different conclusion based on the same data and just as likely. This led to more experiments. While George and I agreed on most subjects, I will always find myself asking “What would George say?”.
In his private life, George lived alone for many years but had many close friends. A compulsive smoker he suffered a heart attack in the early 1980’s and during his recovery moved into the house of his friend Patricia O’Neal, a psychiatrist at Washington University, for recovery. They quietly married within a year or so. They enjoyed each other’s company and took to traveling, particularly to the Far East. Sadly, Dr. O’Neal died of Alzheimer’s in 2011 leaving George alone again.
A particular interest of George was Chinese bronzes. His collection was small but carefully curated as he studied the field extensively.
In later years, his health declined. Never particularly interested in exercise he fell during a walk and broke his knee cap. He never recovered and his earlier heavy smoking habit probably led to his death from lung cancer.
Roy Vagelos
George Drysdale was one of the most interesting people in our Biochemistry Department. He was very quiet but he had a dry wit and an unusual view of life. He gave the appearance of not caring particularly about anyone other than a small group of friends with whom he interacted on a daily basis.
But when Biochemistry started a program to increase the number of African American students at Wash U School of Medicine, we quickly realized that the early students who were recruited by Biochemistry faculty from traditional black colleges lacked the background to be able to handle the first year medical school course work, George jumped in to work with other faculty in teaching a remedial summer course before the students began their first courses at the medical school. He did this quietly but efficiently and did a great job with these students. He did what was badly needed at that time of social unrest in 1967 St. Louis.
The Biochemistry program for black students preceded the overall program for underrepresented minority students later undertaken at Washington University. Much progress has been made at the University after that difficult first summer.
Elliot Elson
My main experiences with George were in the lunches we shared on Saturdays. I had and still have the sense that George, unassuming as he was, commanded such deep and wide knowledge of many areas of thought. Science, of course. I always felt that I could rely on him to know and have wise comments about many fields. Especially biochemistry of which I knew he had both deep knowledge and experience, and also wise judgement. But also in nonscientific areas of cultural interest. I always liked to hear his opinions about art, music and literature. Colleagues of his breadth were, I think, less unusual in the old days but seem very rare today. George was always thoughtful in his opinions and I felt I gained a lot from hearing from him about them. If anything George was too modest, his unassuming manner did not call attention to his intellectual depth and breadth, but that depth and breadth were there all the same. I am glad that I had the pleasure and the benefit of knowing him. I will miss him as I know you will also.
John Cooper
My favorite memories of Dr. Drysdale date from 1984-5, when I joined the department to work with Elliot Elson and Carl Frieden. On Saturdays, the Shell Cafe was open, and a group of people from the department, including Dr. Drysdale, Dave Silbert, Carl and Elliot, went there for lunch. (Kids like me were welcome to tag along.) The discussion was fascinating and ranged widely across topics, including music and the symphony. George was highly knowledgeable, personable, modest, and funny, with wry smile. That smile and gentle laugh persisted, accompanied by a few quiet words, right up to the final times when he was able to come into the department and join us for a meeting or seminar. I will remember him as a scientist, a scholar and a gentle, kind man.
Clara Asnes
I am remembering George’s vast interests, his dry sense of humor, and that he was a perfect role model for aging despite personal hardship and physical limitations.
George accompanied Marcus and me to dinner and concerts of the Saint Louis Symphony for many years. We enjoyed his vast knowledge on many topics as well as his keen insights into politics, human nature and personal interactions. He had a wonderful sense of humor. He told us about his days as a heavy smoker: when medical students put on their class show, the student playing “George Drysdale” had several cigarettes in his mouth at the same time.
Even after Pat became housebound, George took care of himself while managing her care. He came to the department every day and had lunch with his buddies, he attended lectures and concerts. He traveled as much as he could, including a trip to China. One of George’s disabilities was failing eyesight. He was so happy to discover that when he changed the font size on his Kindle, he could read so much more easily and expand his window of the world.
George retained tickets for 2 seats at Opera Theater St Louis after Pat was no longer able to attend. After he learned that Marcus hates opera, but I enjoy it, we found the perfect solution. Marcus took the three of us to dinner, often sharing some great wine, and then I drove George and myself to performances. This continued until he was unable to get out. Each of us had the perfect protocol for a great evening.
Linda Kurz
George and I were close research colleagues for over 20 years. I remember sitting with him for hours at NMR machines first in clinical Sciences Building (years ago) and then in t he basement NMR lab in the main campus building. A)ll this was required because even with C-13 labeling (of substrates oxaloacetate acetylCOA or inhibitors such as carboxymethyCoA ) the large citrate synthase molecule could not be prepared at sufficient concentration and many transients were required to see the broadened signal of bound ligands., Then we worked together to observe the vibrational frequency of bound OAA by FTIR. We worked with the stopped-flow instrument in Carl Frieden’s lab to monitor the kinetics of binding of substrates and inhibitors to citrate synthase, Then George and I had many discussions regarding the publications of all this work and the NIH grant proposals supporting it Those proposals were remarkably successful since I was non-tenured. Beyond this, George and I were friends and he supported me in several health crises I had experienced over the years.