OBITUARIES

Samuel Goodnow Wildman

Photo courtesy of Sylvia Patton

Samuel Goodnow Wildman, an emeritus professor in the Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, died August 16, 2004. Sam had been a professor at UCLA from 1950 until his retirement in 1979. He was born in Placerville, California, on May 26, 1912, the son of Clifton and Lucy (neé Goodnow) Wildman. He received his B.A. degree from Oregon State University, his M.A. from the University of Michigan in 1940, and his Ph.D. from the same institution in 1942. Sam did postdoctoral research with James Bonner at the California Institute of Technology and was one of several people who came to UCLA in the late 1940s and early 1950s from Cal Tech to help establish the fledgling plant physiology curriculum. Sam was one of the first members of the Molecular Biology Institute and was involved in getting the UCLA greenhouse built in the early 1950s. He was a foreign member of the Royal Danish Academy of Science and Letters and received the Charles Reid Barnes Life Membership Award of the American Society of Plant Physiologists in 1979.

Sam was first to discover Fraction 1 Protein, as it was known then. Later, the protein was named “Rubisco” for Ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase. Rubisco is used by plants for fixation of carbon dioxide into glucose and is the most abundant protein on the planet. Sam’s research during his academic career focused on tobacco mosaic virus, on chloroplast inheritance and movement, and chloroplast structure and function, particularly on the organization of grana in the chloroplast. In his nineties, Sam was working on several scientific publications, one that was published in 2004 and another that is in press.

In addition to his scientific pursuits, Sam was a woodworker and an avid trout fisherman. He is survived by Sophie, his wife of 70 years; his daughter Kate Wildman Nakai; grandson Daisuke Nakai; granddaughter Maki Nakai; and two great granddaughters, four nieces, and one nephew.

Donations in Sam’s name can be made to the UCLA Foundation in support of the UCLA Plant Growth Center, attn. Meg Paulson, UCLA College of Letters and Science, 1309 Murphy Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1413.

Sam was a friend and role model to many—young and not-so-young alike. He was a mentor to many Ph.D. students and postdoctoral researchers, and to younger colleagues at UCLA even after his retirement. He is deeply missed by all.

Ann Hirsch
ahirsch@ucla.edu

This tribute originally appeared in the fall 2004 issue of the quarterly newsletter published by the Mildred. E. Mathias Botanical Garden at UCLA.