Search all obituaries on iBerkshires.com:
 G. Lawrence Vankin
March 30, 2004
G. Lawrence Vankin, 72, of 88 Cole Ave. died Tuesday at Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield.
He was a Williams College professor of biology, emeritus.
Born in Baltimore on April 22, 1931, son of Maurice B. and S. Belle Katz Vankin, he attended schools there and in Reading, Pa., and Brooklyn, N.Y. He earned his bachelor of science degree in 1954 and his doctorate in 1962 from New York University.
He received his master's degree, with a concentration in zoology and genetics, from Wesleyan University in 1956. His doctoral work focused on vertebrate morphogenesis and developmental genetics.
Mr. Vankin joined the Williams faculty in 1962, was awarded tenure in 1968 and named full professor in 1975. He was director of the college's Kresge Electron Microscope Laboratory and was a visiting assistant professor in the department of anatomy at Cornell University Medical College in 1968.
His fields of expertise included electron microscopy, cell biology, developmental biology, vertebrate embryology and genetics. He had a strong interest in theoretical biology and, from 1984 until his retirement in 1994, he taught in the history of science department, covering topics such as evolution and DNA.
He published extensively in scientific journals, and was a member of the Society for Developmental Biology, the American Society of Zoologists, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the scientific honor society Sigma Xi.
An avid baseball fan, he played semi-professional ball and had a tryout with the New York Yankees.
He leaves his wife, the former Jean French; a son, Jonathan Michael Vankin of New York City, and a daughter, Laura Elizabeth Vankin of New York City.
FUNERAL NOTICE -- Funeral services for G. Lawrence Vankin, who died March 30, 2004, will be conducted tomorrow, April 2, at 1 at the Williams College Jewish Religious Center by Rabbi Jeff Goldwasser. Interment will follow in the Williams College Cemetery.
There will be no calling hours. Memorials in his honor may be made to the Village Ambulance Service in care of GEORGE M. HOPKINS FUNERAL HOME, 61-67 Spring St., Williamstown, MA 01267.
| No Comments have been left |
|
