OBITUARIES

Anne Holiday (Holly) Schauer

Anne Holiday (Holly) Schauer

You may have heard scientists attribute their success to the fact that “we stand on the shoulders of giants” (John of Salisbury, 1159) in reference to the generations of researchers who have come before us. But in this day and age, it is also true that we wouldn’t be standing here were it not for dedicated people, like Holly Schauer, who manage research grants and keep us from falling off those shoulders. Holly died on July 30, 2006, after a long struggle with multiple sclerosis, and with her passing plant scientists lost one of their most enthusiastic and dedicated supporters.

I first met Holly in 1977, when I was a beginning assistant professor at Purdue University. I had been invited to attend a developmental biology meeting at University of California San Diego, and it just so happened that Holly and Mary Clutter, who at that time was program director for developmental biology at the National Science Foundation, were in attendance. A few weeks earlier, my first grant proposal to NSF had been rejected, so I really needed the advice that Holly and Mary provided on how to get a grant funded. Later, Holly told me to revise my proposal and send it back to them as soon as possible. A few months later I was notified that the grant was funded by the Developmental Biology Program for two years at $50,000. It wasn’t a lot of money, but it was absolutely essential to get my career started. I have since learned that many beginning scientists owe their first grant to Holly Schauer’s support and mentoring.

Anne Holiday (Holly) Schauer was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and grew up in the Washington, DC area. She received a bachelor’s degree from Grinnell College in 1960 and an MS in paleobotany from the University of Minnesota in 1962. She worked as a research assistant in Dr. Willie Smith’s laboratory at NIH during the summers of her undergraduate years, but her scientific career evolved rapidly into research grants management. In the mid-1960s, she began working at NSF, where she was the associate director for the Developmental Biology Program. While in that position she mentored and trained many rotating program directors and provided continuity to investigators in the developmental biology community, who were dependent on NSF support. Holly was a friend of all the grantees in developmental biology, and she and her husband Ron provided generous voluntary help to the Society for Development Biology by transforming its membership lists and documents into computer files. In 1977, Holly moved to the USDA to set up the newly created Competitive Research Grants Office (CRGO). She began as associate program manager for the Genetic Mechanisms Program and in 1981 was appointed associate chief scientist of CRGO. In reality, she was the individual who established the office, along with Joe Key, the founding chief scientist.

Holly is remembered fondly by her associates at NSF and USDA as a wonderful colleague and friend and a major contributor to the granting process. Her knowledge and expertise were essential to launch CRGO, and her role in this process was greatly appreciated by the early CRGO chiefs: Joe Key, David Krogman, and David Timothy. As Joe Key recalls, “It was a godsend to have Holly join CRGO because she brought a wealth of knowledge of the granting process, panel operations, people in the field, and a true and genuine concern about fairness to the PIs. I saw how genuinely concerned she was about the openness and fairness of the evaluation process, always looking for the good in a proposal and a scientist(s) even when things did not look good or fare well for the PI. She was devoted to the job and worked tirelessly to make the process better. She was an advocate (28 years ago!) for minorities and women who were struggling to get into the ‘male science club.’ She would not compromise excellence, but everything else being equal, she would go the minority route. She was a great friend and advocate for plant biologists, especially at NSF, where in the 60s, 70s, maybe 80s, from her perspective, plant biology didn’t get what it deserved. It was amazing how well she knew scientists in the multiple fields represented in the CRGO program, and their strengths and weaknesses relative to their potential value as panel members or program managers.”

Holly’s administrative talents became clearly evident in November 1985, when Congress appropriated over a threefold increase in budget that specified new research areas, several dealing with animal growth, development, and disease, as well as other new programs in such things as alcohol fuels and small business endeavors. She used her incredible ability in working with and around the multiple layers of administrative requirements for space, computer equipment, furniture, and additional personnel. With great effort and determination, she obtained a group of well-known program managers and their associated research panels to comply with the criteria for soliciting, reviewing, and granting awards. Consequently, CRGO was awarded the USDA Certificate of Appreciation in 1985. Holly’s influence in melding both the new and existing scientific and secretarial personnel into a highly efficient and congenial unit was widely recognized. She earned the respect and affection of everyone who worked with and for her. Long after she retired, former associates at CRGO would call her when they needed to remember a certain person or an incident that had happened while Holly was there. She always knew the answer as if it had happened only yesterday. 

If Holly’s life could be measured by those who admired, loved, and respected her, then it was a stunning success. She had a sincere and instant smile, a passionate quest for truth, and a warm heart. She was a genuinely good person, and she truly made a major impact on developmental biology and agricultural research in general.

Brian Larkins
University of Arizona