George F. Vande Woude: in Memoriam (1935–2021) Peter A

Published OnlineFirst May 11, 2021; DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-21-1345

CANCER RESEARCH | OBITUARY

George F. Vande Woude: In Memoriam (1935–2021) Peter A. Jones

The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), and support the event. Today, this storied meeting lives on as the Origins indeed the entire cancer research community, lost a truly exceptional of Cancer Symposium, which is planned each year by Van Andel and well-loved scientist on April 13, 2021. George Vande Woude Institute graduate students and still enjoys support from FACS. passed away in the company of his four children in Grand Rapids, MI, Shortly after arriving at Frederick, George asked me to consider a after a lengthy battle with Parkinson’s disease. He is known for his position in his program. I flew out from Los Angeles and gave a groundbreaking contributions to the fields of virology and oncogenes, seminar in February 1984. As was his custom, he invited me to including the discovery of the enhancer function of proviral long overnight at the farm rather than in a motel following a late afternoon terminal repeats as well as the MET oncogene. Since then, MET has talk. I innocently got in the car for the drive, which had been shortened been successfully targeted by several drugs currently used in person- from 64 to 50 miles by his move to Frederick. Nothing could have alized therapies. In addition, he developed methods and insights that prepared me for the adrenalin-inducing journey! He was proud of his markedly accelerated our understanding of the molecular basis of radar detector and knew exactly where he might expect false alarms. cancer. He was a visionary and instinctive leader with profound Although I had driven in motor rallies in Africa, I was terrified by the empathy for others and a twinkle in his eye that endeared him to all speeds we attained in the countryside as we raced home to be on time who had the good fortune to meet him. for dinner with Dot. Fortunately, we made it unscathed, and I gained George was born in Brooklyn, NY, and lived in Queens Village, NY, tremendous respect for his driving skills. Even though the position he quite close to Dorothy “Dot” Stapel, whom he married in 1959. After had in mind for me was attractive, I decided to stay in California, serving in the U.S. Army and being stationed in Germany, George little realizing that I would accept an offer to join him many years earned his Bachelor of Science from Hofstra University in Hempstead, later. Later on, I heard that George had accumulated enough tickets NY. He was proud of telling the story of how he drove a beer truck and that he had to attend traffic school. Unfortunately for him, he had to waxed floors to earn his way through college. He went on to earn his retake the course after he was discovered doing grant reviews during Master of Science and PhD from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, the class! In true George fashion, he simply could not wait to dive NJ. As a postdoctoral fellow at the Plum Island Animal Disease into the science. Laboratory from 1964 to 1972, he worked on the virus that causes George left the NCI in 1999 to become the founding director of foot-and-mouth disease. His career took off when he joined the the newly established Van Andel Institute (VAI) in Grand Rapids, National Cancer Institute (NCI) in 1972 as head of the Human Tumor MI. This move required a great deal of self-confidence and belief in Studies and Virus Tumor Biochemistry Department. The family his ability to develop a world-class research program from scratch moved from the beach in Southold, NY, which resulted in the fateful with the strong support of the Van Andel family who founded the decision to purchase the working Stoneridge Farm in Berryville, VA. Institute. To ensure that Dot would be happy in Michigan, George George then had to drive 64 miles to Bethesda every day while Dot negotiated a deal to underwrite the move of some of the cattle from managed the day-to-day working of the farm, including managing the Stoneridge to a newly purchased farm in the Grand Rapids area. I Simmental cattle. I suspect that the long commute resulted in George doubt whether such a request has ever been part of a recruitment sharpening his fast-driving skills, which resulted in more than one package before, but the Institute happily obliged. Dot was frequently speeding fine. by George ’s side at the Institute; she participated in recruitments George was appointed chief of the Laboratory of Molecular Oncol- and was loved by all who met her. Unfortunately, she succumbed to ogy at the NCI in 1980 and became director of the ABL-Basic Research breast cancer in 2016. George was heartbroken by her loss but still Program at NCI’s Frederick facility in 1983 shortly before his break- managed to project his infectious love of science and inspired many through discovery of the MET oncogene in 1984. He proved to be an of the new recruits to Grand Rapids. innovative leader and organized the famous annual Oncogene Meeting In 2009, after 10 years of amazing achievements, George decided to at Hood College from 1985 to 2004. In 1988, George and Tony Hunter focus on his lab and pass leadership of VAI’s research to someone else. formed the Foundation for Advanced Cancer Studies (FACS) to In 2013, he called me once again at University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CA, and told me that it was time for me to take over the scientific leadership of VAI. I was humbled that he thought I might Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Rapids, Michigan. follow in his footsteps. This time, I accepted his offer. One of the best decisions of my life was to take what he had built and continue on the Corresponding Author: Peter A. Jones, Van Andel Institute, Office of the Chief ScientificOfficer, 333 Bostwick Ave. NE Grand Rapids, MI 49503. Phone: 616- trajectory to what VAI is today. 234-5041; E-mail: [email protected] During his impressive career, George earned many accolades, including election to the National Academy of Sciences (1993) and Cancer Res 2021;XX:XX–XX the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2006). He was elected as doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-21-1345 a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Ó2021 American Association for Cancer Research. and as a Fellow of the AACR Academy in 2013. He received many

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Jones

awards including the NIH MERIT Award in 1992, two honorary George’s support and encouragement over the course of my doctorates, and a Geoffrey Beene Builders of Science Award from career. The Oncogene Meeting was his idea, and the meeting Research!America along with David Van Andel. proved to play a key role in the development of the field and gave George’s service to the AACR was substantial and exemplary. He many postdocs and students their first chance to present their served on the Editorial Board of the AACR journal Cancer Research work in public. Indeed, many of those who spoke for the first time (1997–2000), was the founding editor of Cell Growth & Differentiation at the early meetings became leaders in the cancer field. Then, (1989–1996), and served with distinction on the AACR Board of late in his career, George selflessly took on the task of setting up Directors from 2001–2004. He also served on numerous AACR award Van Andel Institute from scratch in a city lacking a research committees. In 2006, he served as Chair of the AACR’s Council of community, and, without his efforts, VAI wouldn’t have been as Scientific Advisors, a position that perfectly matched his broad sci- successful as it has turned out to be.” entific expertise and passion for identifying the top scientific priorities — and opportunities in the cancer field for the benefit of patients with Tony Hunter, PhD, FAACR Salk Institute for Biological cancer. Studies George’s contributions as a laboratory scientist, leader, mentor, husband, and farmer can probably best be appreciated by the out- “George was a brilliant scientist who influenced science on an pouring of grief by his colleagues shown in the examples below: international level through his many leadership roles. However, what George really excelled at was being a human being. He had a “I am saddened to hear this news—George was just a wonderful tremendous capacity for empathy and an infectious enthusiasm guy. I remember meeting him for the first time in 1987 when he for life that would fill any room. I had hundreds of discussions was at NCI; I was in Michigan, and the CFTR gene and the MET with George as a VAI faculty member. A discussion with George gene turned out to be next to each other on chromosome 7. The was never short, and I always learned something. George was a genome must have wanted us to meet.” loving and proud husband, father, grandfather, sibling, uncle, devoted friend, mentor, and colleague. Those of us lucky enough —Francis Collins, MD, PhD, Director, NIH to be mentored by him can strive to live up to his example.” “ fi George was a modest man but a towering gure in the cancer —Bart Williams, PhD, Van Andel Research Institute field, being there right at the beginning of the molecular cancer research era. He was a great judge of potential and a terrific mentor for young scientists. I too benefited enormously from George will be sorely missed but not forgotten.

OF2 Cancer Res; 2021 CANCER RESEARCH

George F. Vande Woude: In Memoriam (1935−2021)

Peter A. Jones

Cancer Res Published OnlineFirst May 11, 2021.

Updated version Access the most recent version of this article at: doi:10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-21-1345

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