Abstract
PAUL J. ANDERSON, Editor Emeritus of the Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry, died on August 11, 1998. As fate would have it, Dr. Anderson, who was a neurologist and neuropathologist, died of glioblastoma multiforme. He was 72 years old.
A conventional obituary would enumerate the salient stages of his professional life: after military service in Europe from 1943 to 1946, graduation from Ohio University in 1949; an MD degree from the University of Chicago in 1953; internship at Philadelphia General Hospital in 1953 and 1954; residency in neurology and pathology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, culminating in board certification in Psychiatry and Neurology and in Pathology; academic appointments at New York University School of Medicine and at the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University; and a 40-year academic career at Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai School of Medicine of the City University of New York. At the time of his death, Dr. Anderson was Clinical Professor of Neurology and Pathology and attending neurologist at Beth Israel North Hospital. Previously, for almost 30 years, he was Professor of Pathology and Chief of the Division of Neuropathology. He was also Associate Dean for University Affairs from 1979 to 1987. In his successful academic career he was a clinician, researcher, educator, and academic administrator.
Paul Anderson was the third editor of the Journal for the long term of 1973 to 1996. His first encounter with histochemistry, perhaps by osmosis, was his exposure to the great Hungarian pioneer of histochemistry George Gomori. However, from Gomori he learned not histochemistry but clinical medicine, Gomori being his preceptor in pulmonary diseases at the Medical School of the University of Chicago. Gomori played a role in his life once more when, in 1995, he received the George Gomori Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Histochemistry. His interest in histochemistry was perhaps stimulated by our collaboration, which started in 1958 when I joined the Department of Pathology at Mount Sinai Hospital as a recently arrived political refugee and where he was completing his training in pathology. This led to a fruitful collaboration (Barka and Anderson 1963), to his editorship, and to an unbroken friendship of mutual appreciation for over 40 years.
A statement attributed to Count Rumford aptly characterizes Dr. Anderson's wide interest and deep involvement in different endeavors. “The ardour of my mind is so ungovernable that every object that interests me engages my whole attention, and it is pursued with a degree of indefatigable zeal which approaches to madness” (Perutz 1998). Such an almost single-minded attention led him, once a decision was made by the Council of the Histochemical Society on his recommendation to publish the Journal by the Society, to the arduous task of setting up an editorial publishing office without the assistance of a publishing house. His great effort of self-publishing by the Society, while maintaining the high scientific standard of the Journal was, in my opinion, vital for the Society.
His involvement with editing the Journal led him to a broader interest in both the ethical (Anderson 1993) and the technical aspects (Scientific Illustration Committee 1988) of scientific and scholarly publishing. He became a member of the Society for Scholarly Publishing and a member and then the President (1984–1985) of the Council of Biology Editors. At the same time, with the same ardor, he was immersed in teaching and residency training and received several awards as Best Teacher.
Dr. Anderson's professional achievements are even more remarkable when one recalls his multifaceted personal interests and talents, which extended to music, literature, archaeology, fine arts, gardening, and culinary arts, all pursued with great intensity and ardor.
Dr. Anderson held memberships in a great number of professional societies. Indicating his eclectic interests, these included, among others, the James Joyce Society (New York Times 1986), the New York Historical Society, and the Archaeological Institute of America. He participated in archaeological excavations in Kommos, Crete, and published on his findings.
His family, including his children, his friends, and his colleagues, will greatly miss him but are consoled in the knowledge that he had led a full and productive life.