Peter Reichard, MD, a member of the AACR for 43 years, died June 18, 2018, at the age of 93.
Reichard was born on Jan. 9, 1925, in Wiener Neustadt, Austria. His family immigrated to Sweden in 1939. He earned a PhD from Karolinska Institutet (KI) in Stockholm in 1949, followed by a medical degree in 1951 and postdoctoral studies sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation in the United States. During his time in the U.S., he studied with prominent scientists including Nobel Prize laureate Arthur Kornberg.
In 1961, Reichard became a professor of Medical Chemistry in Uppsala, then professor and head of the Medical Chemistry Division II at KI in 1964. In the 1970s, he taught biochemistry and became a Director of the Medical Nobel Institute for Biochemistry. He continued his research after his retirement in 1991. Reichard’s work on DNA synthesis, both replication and repair, is of fundamental importance in cancer research.
Reichard received numerous scientific prizes and awards. He was elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Science in 1977, the National Academy of Sciences USA in 1980, and the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). He was awarded the Nordic Eric K. Fernström prize in Medical Research for his discovery of and work on ribonucleotide reductase.
Reichard was involved in the Nobel Committee and the Nobel Assembly at KI, serving as committee chairman and presenting several Nobel Prize laureate speeches. His involvement with the Nobel program spanned 20 years.
Reichard joined the AACR as a Corresponding member in 1975 and transferred to Emeritus membership in 1995.
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