鶹ýɫƬ

Retrospective

Richard J. Havel (1925 – 2016)

ASBMB Today Staff
Aug. 1, 2016

Richard “Dick” J. Havel, former director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of California, San Francisco, died in April in Greenbrae, Calif. He was 91.

Havel contributed to the emergence of the field of lipid metabolism both as an institute director and head of the Specialized Center for Research in Arteriosclerosis, a National Institutes of Health-supported group of laboratories that brought an array of technical approaches to lipid research.

Richard J. Havel

Born in Seattle, Wash., Havel attended Reed College and went on to obtain his M.S. and M.D. from the University of Oregon Medical School in 1949. He completed his residency in medicine at Cornell University, serving as chief resident from 1952 to 1953. He then worked at the National Institutes of Health until 1956 before moving to UCSF to join the founding faculty of the Cardiovascular Research Institute.

While at the NIH, Havel developed the technique of quantitative ultracentrifugation, which remains a standard technique in the field to this day. It allowed the discrimination of clinical phenotypes and provided a basis for understanding lipid transport in health and disease. As a result of this work, Havel became the first to define the genetic disorder of lipoprotein lipase deficiency.

Havel succeeded Julius Comroe as director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute and later become interim director until his retirement in 1996. From 1971 until 1996, he also served as director of the NIH’s Specialized Center for Research in Arteriosclerosis, or SCOR.

Under his direction, SCOR investigators created a large body of integrated discovery on lipoprotein biology and its clinical significance, including the multistaged formation of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins, cholesterol efflux, structural and functional studies of HDL, and one of the first demonstrations that reducing the levels of atherogenic lipoproteins would result in diminution of the volume of arterial plaques.

Havel was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1983 and the Institute of Medicine in 1989. He won the Bristol Myers Squibb/Mead Johnson Award for Distinguished Achievement in Nutrition Research and a Distinguished Achievement Award from the American Heart Association Council on Arteriosclerosis. He served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Lipid Research from 1972 to 1975 and as chair of its advisory board from 1982 to 1992.

Part of Havel’s legacy will be the careers of a large number of investigators who trained in his laboratory and with the SCOR group, who are now distinguished academicians in many countries. Havel leaves behind his wife, four children and three grandchildren.

This is a condensed version of an obituary that first appeared in the . It was written by and at the University of California, San Francisco.

Enjoy reading ASBMB Today?

Become a member to receive the print edition monthly and the digital edition weekly.

Learn more
ASBMB Today Staff

This article was written by a member or members of the ASBMB Today staff.

Related articles

Gary Felsenfeld (1929–2024)
Michael M. Gottesman, Christopher Wanjek & Martin Gellert
Daniel E. Atkinson (1921 – 2024)
Catherine Clarke & Steven Clarke
Fred Goldberg (1942–2023)
George N. DeMartino
Don Voet (1938–2023)
Charlotte Pratt
John H. Exton: A cell signaling pioneer
Roger J. Colbran, Jackie D. Corbin & Alan D. Cherrington

Get the latest from ASBMB Today

Enter your email address, and we’ll send you a weekly email with recent articles, interviews and more.

Latest in People

People highlights or most popular articles

Honors for Bhatt, Lim and Nuñez
Member News

Honors for Bhatt, Lim and Nuñez

Sept. 16, 2024

Ami Bhatt receives the American Society of Hematology's William Dameshek Prize. The Pew Charitable Trusts selects Ci Ji Lim and James Nuñez as 2024 Pew scholars.

In memoriam: Robert Warren Newburgh
In Memoriam

In memoriam: Robert Warren Newburgh

Sept. 16, 2024

He was a distinguished developmental and cell biologist and a member of the ASBMB since 1957.

'Don’t be afraid to take a different path'
Profile

'Don’t be afraid to take a different path'

Sept. 11, 2024

In 2016, MOSAIC scholar Rebecca Ann Faulkner paused her career for four years to focus on her family, a decision she believes made her a more effective and empathetic scientist.

Honors for Baserga, Matunis and Tate
Member News

Honors for Baserga, Matunis and Tate

Sept. 9, 2024

Awards, promotions, milestones and more. Find out what's going on in the lives of ASBMB members.

In memoriam: William Catterall
In Memoriam

In memoriam: William Catterall

Sept. 9, 2024

Known as the “father of ion channels,” he was a neuroscientist and pharmacologist at the University of Washington and an ASBMB member for more than 45 years.

Announcing the winners of the 鶹ýɫƬ Motifs bioart competition
Contest

Announcing the winners of the 鶹ýɫƬ Motifs bioart competition

Sept. 3, 2024

The 12 winning works of art to be featured in the 2025 ASBMB calendar were selected from 37 entries received from scientists in both academia and industry at all career stages with submissions coming from as far away as Pakistan and Brazil.