OBITUARIES

Vincent Franceschi

Vincent Franceschi, 52, director of the School of Biological Sciences and the Electron Microscopy Center, Washington State University, died unexpectedly April 30 of a ruptured aortic aneurysm. Not long before his untimely death, Vince was heard to remark, “What could be more fun than science?” His love of, and fascination with, plant physiology and structural cell biology was apparent to all during his professional career.

Vince grew up in Napa, California. His parents remember him as a very studious fellow, with a clear idea of what he wanted to do and a great determination to get it done. He was also, in their words, a “regular good old kid.” Vince began his academic career at the University of California, Santa Barbara, graduating in 1976. His excellent record earned him membership in Phi Beta Kappa. Working under the direction of Dr. Harry T. Horner at Iowa State University, Vince received his M.S in 1978. His thesis work and collaboration with Dr. Horner on the subject of calcium oxalate crystals resulted in six papers, one being a major review paper, and was the basis for his ongoing interest in that subject. From Iowa State, Vince moved on to the University of California, Davis, for Ph.D. research under Dr. Bill Lucas. While at Davis, he was named a Regents Fellow. His doctoral thesis in botany was on “Membrane Structure–Function Relationships in Several Characean Species.” In this work, Vince provided important insights into the formation and function of a unique plasma membrane transport system, the algal charasome. He also began his studies on phloem form and function, a topic that led him to many significant collaborations with scientists around the world. He received his doctorate in 1981 and was awarded a Lady Davis Fellowship from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem the same year.

Just prior to receiving his Ph.D., Vince applied for a position as plant cell biologist in the Washington State University Department of Botany. Never mind that he hadn’t yet had his defense of thesis or any postdoctoral experience; the search committee was so impressed by the young scientist that they offered him the position. They also granted his request that he be allowed to delay his arrival for a year while he did a postdoc at E.I. duPont de Nemours with Dr. Bob Giaquinta. This time was well spent, as seminal publications emerged describing an elegant functional characterization of para-veinal mesophyll cells in soybean leaves as repositories of vegetative storage protein. This opened up a significant line of investigation that Vince and other groups pursued for another decade.

Vince joined the botany faculty in 1982. He became a full professor in 1992 and assumed the directorship of the Electron Microscopy Center two years later. In 1999, the Department of Botany and several other departments were reorganized into the School of Biological Sciences. Two years later, Vince became its director. Through his stewardship, the school moved forward with the addition of new faculty, a reassessment of its undergraduate course offering, and a sharper image of its future. His rapport with and support for the school’s faculty and staff were truly exceptional. 

Vince’s research dealt with various aspects of regulation of partitioning of organic and inorganic compounds in plants. He had an extraordinary record of collaborative research, which included scientists in many departments at WSU and at universities across the United States and worldwide, including institutions in Argentina, Australia, Germany, India, Iran, Israel, Korea, and Russia. Vince obtained millions of dollars in grants to support his projects. In this context, he was always exceptionally generous with his time in teaching techniques to other researchers and students.

Over the past few years, Vince worked simultaneously on specific projects in three main areas to which he made significant contributions. One was characterization of cellular and biochemical mechanisms controlling carbon assimilation, transport, and partitioning in plants. Recently, he contributed to the discovery of a previously unknown form of photosynthesis that may contribute to the development of crops that can withstand adverse conditions such as heat, drought, and rising carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere. He was also a lead investigator of a McKnight Collaborative Crop Research grant and collaborated with colleagues in India on genetic improvement of chickpea. Throughout his career, Vince continued to study various aspects of calcium oxalate metabolism in plants, which is important in regulating calcium levels, and in plant defense against herbivores. In recent years, he spent time working with colleagues in Aas, Norway, on defense responses in conifers against bark beetle attack, identifying signaling compounds, defense gene expression, and partitioning of resources to cellular defense. It was obvious that Vince treasured that time for research away from his administrative duties.

The fact that Vince was a recognized authority in these areas is evidenced by the fact that he was coauthor on a chapter in each of the past two years’ Annual Review of Plant Biology—“Single-Cell C4 Photosynthesis Versus the Dual-Cell (Kranz) Paradigm” (Edwards et al., 2004) and “Calcium Oxalate in Plants: Formation and Function” (Franceschi and Nakata, 2005)—and an upcoming New Phytologist Tansley Review, “Anatomical and Chemical Defenses of Conifer Bark Against Bark Beetles and Other Pests” (Franceschi et al., 2005). He was also working on a text on plant anatomy.
Using his extraordinary skill in microscopy, Vince examined and photographed the innermost workings of plants. His wonderful micrographs graced prominent scientific journals, including the cover of Science. Vince was a regular participant in symposia and annual meetings. In particular, he was an important figure at the Gordon and FASEB summer research conferences on calcium oxalate. He was a co-organizer for this summer’s conference in Tucson, and there was a dedication to him on the first day.

Despite the time constraints of research and administration, Vince still loved to teach every semester. Besides multiple microscopy courses, he taught plant anatomy on a regular basis. He was a beloved adviser to many graduate students throughout his career, though some may remember less fondly his habit of bringing stacks of anatomical slides into their preliminary examinations to gleefully ask, “What’s this?”

There was well-deserved recognition of his scientific career in 2004, when Vince was included on the ISI list of most highly cited researchers in animal and plant sciences, a distinction based on the high-profile nature of his 150+ publications. He also received the Washington State University College of Sciences Distinguished Faculty Research Award. Additional information about his work can be found on his website: http://www.sci.wsu.edu/sbs/franceschi.

In his spare time, Vince loved gardening and waged a never-ending battle against squirrels. In this, he was aided by his ever-faithful cat Buddy.

Vince is survived by his fiancée, Mechthild Tegeder; his parents, Rita and Giuseppe; and his brother Joe and sister Angela and their families. Those who knew Vince will remember him as a kind, friendly person with a keen scientific mind and a devotion to his profession. He was a prolific scientist whose legacy of work will go on through all his publications, through his influence on colleagues, and through the careers of the many students he mentored. He was a joy to be around, whether talking about science or life in general. Vince will be greatly missed and impossible to replace.

This tribute to Vince Franceschi was contributed by several of his friends and colleagues.