Pharmacy Perspectives - Fall 2012 - (Page 18)

F A C u Lt Y Goodbye to Friends and Faculty Recently, former and current faculty members – Drs. Tony Jones, Janella Olinger and Al Malkinson – passed away. We are enriched for knowing them, but at a loss for their passing. The following highlights their accomplishments and provides a glimpse into their character. Al Malkinson Scholar, mentor, gentleman Born to Irving and Ida Malkinson in Buffalo, NY, Al attended the University of Buffalo where he met Ken Pagan who inspired his love of science. Al then earned his PhD in Bio-Chemistry from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore where he met and married his wife, Lynn. He worked on his Post-Doctorate in England and completed his work at Yale. He began his career in academia as an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota. In 1978, he joined the School of Pharmacy faculty at the University of Colorado and for 38 years conducted lung cancer research, published hundreds of papers, and as a full professor taught undergraduate and graduate courses through this spring. In 2004, he won the Shell prize for outstanding research and teaching. Al’s insatiable interest in the arts led him to attend concerts, plays, and roughly 150 films every year. His reading tastes ranged from Charles Dickens to Terry Southern and he took equal delight in Brubeck and Brahms. Yet, he was never more proud or happy than when he was with his family. His beloved late brother, Myron, eventually moved to Boulder. Al could kvell for hours about his grandkids Sam, Kate, and Alison, and relished the time he spent with them. But his passion for research and movies paled next to his love for his wife, Lynn. No matter where they were, it was obvious to everyone how much they loved each other. Al is survived by his wife, children and grandchildren. O On the lOss Of a mentOr: al malkinsOn By Dr. David Kroll, director of Science Communications, NC Museum of Natural Sciences RecRuited me foR fiRst faculty position I first met Al in the late1980s when I worked for CU in endocrinology and medical oncology; I was immediately struck by his aura of warmth and acute interest in my experiments and career plans. Al mentioned that a long-time teaching professor at the pharmacy school was about to retire, and encouraged me to apply for the position. He thought that my graduate school experience of teaching pharmacy students and having a BS from a pharmacy school would give me a leg up over more experienced researchers who lacked pharmacy school ties. I learned later that Al was a strong proponent of my hiring – me, a 28-year-old postdoc with two years’ experience and four, peer-reviewed publications! I didn’t do all the right things like go to Harvard and do a postdoc with a Nobel laureate but Al and several senior faculty members saw something that led them to take a gamble on me. Those who make the deepest impression on you become the fabric of your being. Think about those who’ve passed through your life and have influenced your approach to science, society, family. . . Even if years have passed since seeing one another, the lessons and attributes of these very special people continue to stay with you. But rarely do we truly get to express to these treasured souls just how much they have meant to us. My first faculty mentor, lung cancer researcher Alvin M. Malkinson, PhD, passed away Aug. 3. If you were fortunate enough to know him, you learned that he was a scholar of the world, lover of the arts, and true gentleman. I always remember Al as a vibrant, worldly soul whose intellectual energy, I thought, was likely to power him for a couple more decades. Alas, he has left us far too early, and without some of us being able to say goodbye. consummate scholaR, man of the woRld Working with Al from 1992 until 2000 or so, I came to know that his warmth was genuine. While he did not suffer fools gladly, he had a penchant for helping trainees and junior faculty identify their strengths and encouraged them to develop their potential. He had no patience for administrative nonsense but would gladly take his lunch with any student who wanted to talk about their research. When the pharmacy school moved from the idyllic main campus in Boulder to the research-intensive urban medical campus in Denver, Al remained the consummate professor and scholar. His lush white hair and beard contrasted with his sweater and jeans and his stacks of papers in his office marked him as an old-timey, eccentric professor. 18 CU Ska g g s School of Phar m acy and Phar m ace ut i cal S c i e n c e s

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pharmacy Perspectives - Fall 2012

Pharmacy Perspectives - Fall 2012
Contents
Dean’s Message
Centennial Scholars
Commencement
Faculty
Tributes

Pharmacy Perspectives - Fall 2012