Immunology Today, vol. 5, No. 1, 1984
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William Henry Hildemann (1927-1983)
William Henry Hildemann, a pioneer in the fields of immunogenetics, transp l a n t a t i o n biology, a n d i m m u n o p h y l o g e n y , died o n 8 September 1983 after a long and courageous struggle w i t h amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Bill, a true son of the Golden West, was born on 18 November 1927 in the then pristine and unpopulated San Fernando Valley of Southern California. He earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the University of Southern California and then served as a First Lieutenant in the First Marine Division during the Korean War. Bill earned his Ph.D. in 1956 from the California Institute of Technology under the aegis of Ray Owen, who nurtured his student's fascination with the immunogenetics and immunobiology of alloimmunity in goldfish. While a postdoctoral fellow with Sir Peter Medawar and Rupert Billingham at University College, London, Bill continued his now classic work on teleost immunity and initiated studies on transplantation biology in murine systems. By the time Bill turned 30 he was a committed bona fide comparative immunologist who had published provocative papers on invertebrates (Daphnia), teleosts (goldfish, discus, guppies) and mammals (Syrian hamsters, mice). Bill returned to Los Angeles in 1957 to assume the responsibilities of an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine and Dentistry. His promotion to Associate Professor five years later was followed by his first sabbatical (1963-1964) at the Jackson Laboratory with George Snell. This was an extremely productive period for Bill whose investigations on weak histoincompatibility interactions in mice and on transplantation biology of fishes and frogs were attracting international as well as national attention. In 1966 Bill was promoted to Professor, and from 1968 to 1970 he served as Chairman of his department. By 1970 he had served as a member of the Allergy Immunology Study Section of the National Institutes of Health and was on the board of scientific overseers and Trustees of the Jackson Laboratory, as well as on the editorial boards of Transplantation and Transplantation Proceedings. Also by 1970 this recipient of the U C L A Lederle Medical Faculty Award had
played a major role in medical school curriculum and teaching and had also guided and promoted (rather than exploited) the research and development of what he often called a 'sparkling group' of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and undergraduates. His nearly 100 publications by the beginning of the 1970s reflected his immunological breadth and interests in skin and organ transplantation immunogenetics, immunological enhancement and tumor biology, virus susceptibility, ageing, and immunity of a veritable zoo of poikilothermic vertebrates that included salamanders, frogs, hagfish, sharks, and
primitive and advanced teleosts. His first of six books, a monograph on immunogenetics, was published .at this time, as were the proceedings of the first international congress he organized. In short, at the age of 43, Bill had already accomplished professionally more than most scientists accomplish in a lifetime. Characteristically, Bill looked forward to new challenges rather than backward to past laurels. He spent his second sabbatical (1970-1971) as a Visiting Professor at the University of Otago Medical School in New Zealand and as a Senior Fellow of the Australian National Academy of Science at James Cook University, Queensland, Australia. During this period, Bill happily nurtured the discovery that his love of nature, the South Pacific, scuba diving and immunology could be combined by studying immunity of marine invertebrates. He approached this new area of frontier
research with his typical pioneering enthusiasm tempered by careful bench work with exotic creatures that included sea cucumbers, sea stars, corals and sponges. Although many immunologists may think of Bill's last decade of research contributions only in terms of his more than four dozen papers on invertebrate defense systems (published from 1973 to 1983), this 10-year span was notably marked by a comparable number of publications on mammalian immunogenetics and transplantation biology. During this period, Bill's energies were also channelled into the Directorship of the U C L A Dental Research Institute and the development of a research and teaching marine biology facility at Hilo C ollege of the University of Hawaii. Bill served as Dean and Professor of Biology at Hilo College from 1975 to 1976. Although this new job did not woo him away from home (the temptation was indeed strong), it did provide him with opportunities for continued research on marine invertebrates of tropical climes. In addition to his special personal involvement in the training and supervision of graduate and postdoctoral students, he served between 1970 and 1983 on the editorial boards of four major journals and on the immunology study section. Bill Hildemann's professional accomplishments, however, are far more than the sum of the more than 200 papers he wrote, courses and students he taught, and editorial boards and university and national committees on which he served. Bill' s sustained seminal contributions to, and reputation in, the field of mammalian immunogenetics as well as in immunophylogeny established the credibility of studies by others who were exploring and exploiting phylogenetically primitive systems. He primed the immunological community and made it receptive for reading and thinking about the evolution of immunity. Even more importantly, this dynamic explorer of the High Sierras and the Great Barrier Reef, this avid and expert fly-fisherman and rattlesnake tempter, this lover of back-yard ponds and coyotes, gave unselfishly of himself to his family, his students, and his God. Bill was a very special person who not only taught his students the scientific method but continued to nurture their careers as well as their curiosity long after they had left his protective nest. For many of us, Bill Hildemann will always be ourconscience and our role model. NICHOLAS COHEN
DepartmentofMicrobiology, Division of Immunology, Universityof Rochester, SchooloJ Medicine and DentisOy, Rochester,N Y 14642, USA
2
H]
1
William Henry Hildemann (1927-1983)
William Henry Hildemann, a pioneer in the fields of immunogenetics, transp l a n t a t i o n biology, a n d i m m u n o p h y l o g e n y , died o n 8 September 1983 after a long and courageous struggle w i t h amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Bill, a true son of the Golden West, was born on 18 November 1927 in the then pristine and unpopulated San Fernando Valley of Southern California. He earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the University of Southern California and then served as a First Lieutenant in the First Marine Division during the Korean War. Bill earned his Ph.D. in 1956 from the California Institute of Technology under the aegis of Ray Owen, who nurtured his student's fascination with the immunogenetics and immunobiology of alloimmunity in goldfish. While a postdoctoral fellow with Sir Peter Medawar and Rupert Billingham at University College, London, Bill continued his now classic work on teleost immunity and initiated studies on transplantation biology in murine systems. By the time Bill turned 30 he was a committed bona fide comparative immunologist who had published provocative papers on invertebrates (Daphnia), teleosts (goldfish, discus, guppies) and mammals (Syrian hamsters, mice). Bill returned to Los Angeles in 1957 to assume the responsibilities of an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine and Dentistry. His promotion to Associate Professor five years later was followed by his first sabbatical (1963-1964) at the Jackson Laboratory with George Snell. This was an extremely productive period for Bill whose investigations on weak histoincompatibility interactions in mice and on transplantation biology of fishes and frogs were attracting international as well as national attention. In 1966 Bill was promoted to Professor, and from 1968 to 1970 he served as Chairman of his department. By 1970 he had served as a member of the Allergy Immunology Study Section of the National Institutes of Health and was on the board of scientific overseers and Trustees of the Jackson Laboratory, as well as on the editorial boards of Transplantation and Transplantation Proceedings. Also by 1970 this recipient of the U C L A Lederle Medical Faculty Award had
played a major role in medical school curriculum and teaching and had also guided and promoted (rather than exploited) the research and development of what he often called a 'sparkling group' of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and undergraduates. His nearly 100 publications by the beginning of the 1970s reflected his immunological breadth and interests in skin and organ transplantation immunogenetics, immunological enhancement and tumor biology, virus susceptibility, ageing, and immunity of a veritable zoo of poikilothermic vertebrates that included salamanders, frogs, hagfish, sharks, and
primitive and advanced teleosts. His first of six books, a monograph on immunogenetics, was published .at this time, as were the proceedings of the first international congress he organized. In short, at the age of 43, Bill had already accomplished professionally more than most scientists accomplish in a lifetime. Characteristically, Bill looked forward to new challenges rather than backward to past laurels. He spent his second sabbatical (1970-1971) as a Visiting Professor at the University of Otago Medical School in New Zealand and as a Senior Fellow of the Australian National Academy of Science at James Cook University, Queensland, Australia. During this period, Bill happily nurtured the discovery that his love of nature, the South Pacific, scuba diving and immunology could be combined by studying immunity of marine invertebrates. He approached this new area of frontier
research with his typical pioneering enthusiasm tempered by careful bench work with exotic creatures that included sea cucumbers, sea stars, corals and sponges. Although many immunologists may think of Bill's last decade of research contributions only in terms of his more than four dozen papers on invertebrate defense systems (published from 1973 to 1983), this 10-year span was notably marked by a comparable number of publications on mammalian immunogenetics and transplantation biology. During this period, Bill's energies were also channelled into the Directorship of the U C L A Dental Research Institute and the development of a research and teaching marine biology facility at Hilo C ollege of the University of Hawaii. Bill served as Dean and Professor of Biology at Hilo College from 1975 to 1976. Although this new job did not woo him away from home (the temptation was indeed strong), it did provide him with opportunities for continued research on marine invertebrates of tropical climes. In addition to his special personal involvement in the training and supervision of graduate and postdoctoral students, he served between 1970 and 1983 on the editorial boards of four major journals and on the immunology study section. Bill Hildemann's professional accomplishments, however, are far more than the sum of the more than 200 papers he wrote, courses and students he taught, and editorial boards and university and national committees on which he served. Bill' s sustained seminal contributions to, and reputation in, the field of mammalian immunogenetics as well as in immunophylogeny established the credibility of studies by others who were exploring and exploiting phylogenetically primitive systems. He primed the immunological community and made it receptive for reading and thinking about the evolution of immunity. Even more importantly, this dynamic explorer of the High Sierras and the Great Barrier Reef, this avid and expert fly-fisherman and rattlesnake tempter, this lover of back-yard ponds and coyotes, gave unselfishly of himself to his family, his students, and his God. Bill was a very special person who not only taught his students the scientific method but continued to nurture their careers as well as their curiosity long after they had left his protective nest. For many of us, Bill Hildemann will always be ourconscience and our role model. NICHOLAS COHEN
DepartmentofMicrobiology, Division of Immunology, Universityof Rochester, SchooloJ Medicine and DentisOy, Rochester,N Y 14642, USA
