Genetic Epidemiology 18:289–291 (2000)

© 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

James Van Gundia Neel

James V. Neel, one of the world’smost illustrious human geneticists, died onFebruary 1, 2000, after a protracted illness.Jim, as he was known to his colleagues,was born in Hamilton, Ohio, on March 22,1915. He received his baccalaureate degreefrom the College of Wooster, a small, butexceptionally outstanding liberal arts col-lege in Ohio. He had contemplated a ca-reer in journalism, but a course in geneticsunder Warren Spencer, an internationallyregarded experimental population geneti-cist, changed his career aspirations. He re-ceived his Ph.D. from the University ofRochester (1939) where he was the firstgraduate student in the United States of the

late Curt Stern. Subsequently, in 1944, he received the M.D. degree from the sameinstitution. Upon completion of his medical training, he was called to active servicein the U.S. Medical Corps. Soon thereafter, when President Harry Truman directedthe National Academy of Science (U.S.) to undertake long-term studies of the effectsof exposure to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he was one of threeindividuals (Austin Brues, Melvin Block, and Neel) whom the Academy selected tosend to Japan to assess the needs of the studies Truman had directed. Neel would notonly serve as the first director of the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission, the agencycharged with the studies, but he would be responsible for the initiation of the geneticstudies. His commitment to these latter studies extended over half a century, and inthe course of that time he guided the largest, most comprehensive effort to assess themutagenic effect of ionizing radiation on human beings that has yet occurred. Oftenemulated, these studies have never been exceeded either in scope or duration. More-over, through his foresight, these studies have been positioned so that they can adoptnew methods, such as the DNA characterization of the human genome, as these tech-niques evolve to a stage at which they can be applied on a population-wide basis.

Neel was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medi-cine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American PhilosophicalSociety as well as other honorary societies. He received numerous awards includingthe Lasker Award of the American Public Health Association, the Allen Award of the

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American Society of Human Genetics, the National Medal of Science, the SilvioConte Award, and the Medal of the Smithsonian Institution. His colleagues recog-nized his many seminal contributions to human genetics through electing him tonumerous presidencies, among them President of the American Society of HumanGenetics, of the International Society of Genetic Epidemiology, and of the SixthInternational Congress of Human Genetics. He served in a consultative capacity forcountless national and international agencies. Among these are the National Insti-tutes of Health, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protections Agency,the Veterans Administration, all in the United States, and the World Health Organiza-tion. He received honorary degrees from the College of Wooster, Rochester Univer-sity, and the Medical College of Ohio.

Jim was the founding chairman of the Department of Human Genetics at theUniversity of Michigan, one of the truly stellar such departments, nationally andinternationally. His vision defined that department and continues to define it. Whenthis department came into existence in 1956, most groups in human genetics wereappendages to a clinical department, generally medicine or pediatrics, but Jim soughtmore. He wanted his department to have the breadth of knowledge and skills toapproach genetic issues on the broadest possible front from the biochemical, to thecytogenetic, to the immunological, to the epidemiological. He recruited to thisend. His success in this respect is attested to by the scientific prominence hiscolleagues, past and present, have achieved, and the students and post-doctoralfellows the department has trained. He always sought to establish and maintain amilieu that fostered individual creativity, one in which his colleagues could reachtheir full potential. But his was not a permissive department. Although he soughtto persuade by the strength of his arguments, he could be forceful when circum-stances demanded.

Although Neel’s contributions to human genetics are legion and any enumera-tion would be incomplete, they include the early recognition of the mode of inherit-ance of the sickling phenomenon as well as thalassemia, the delineation of theimportance of the carrier state in the manifestation of health effects, the introductionof the notion of a “thrifty genotype,” the advocacy of the potential role of genetichomeostasis in the frequency of life-threatening congenital defects, and the assess-ment of genetic diversity in “primitive” populations. Indeed, his studies of the Xavanteand the Yanomamo established new standards in the investigation of such popula-tions. But if there is a single thread that connects his scientific career, it is his preoc-cupation with the phenomenon of mutation. It began at Dartmouth College, wherehe briefly taught, was whetted by his association with Philip Ives and Ernst Hadorn,and continued throughout his long connection with the studies in Japan. In the pur-suit of this process so fundamental to biology, he demonstrated an admirable capac-ity to incorporate new technologies and ideas as these became available. His interestfocused not merely on the frequency of mutation, whether spontaneously occurringor induced, but on the biochemistry of the process, the manifestation of mutationswhen present in single dose, and the factors that govern the persistence or loss ofnew mutations at the population level.

This recitation of his vision and professional achievements is only one mea-sure of the man. The breadth of his curiosity and interests constantly amazed hiscolleagues. He was not only an exceptionally able clinician and a board-certified

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internist, but a great human biologist in the renaissance sense of that calling. Hewas a devoted family man, the father of three children, Frances, James, andAlexander, and the husband of Priscilla, all of whom survive. He was also anavid orchidist and collector of butterflies. Above all, he was a man of enormouspersonal integrity, sensitivity, and compassion. He was deeply concerned withthe lot of his fellow kind as his autobiographical book, Physician to the HumanGene Pool, compellingly testifies. He was truly a “man for all seasons.” Althoughhis was a full life by any accounting, his death leaves human genetics and medi-cine much the poorer, and his friends and associates bereft of a concerned col-league and supportive friend.

William J. SchullProfessor EmeritusThe Human Genetics CenterSchool of Public HealthUniversity of Texas-HoustonHouston, Texas