Frank G. Rothman (FAC)

Frank G. Rothman, Wayne, Pa.; Oct. 23, from bladder cancer. He arrived in the U.S. in 1944 and matriculated at the University of Chicago, then went to Harvard for his doctorate. After two years of service in the U.S. Army, where he was assigned to the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, he moved to the University of Wisconsin—Madison and became a postdoctoral fellow in the departments of chemistry and bacteriology. He broadened his training in molecular genetics at MIT (1957-1960), working in the lab of Cy Levinthal on the alkaline phosphatase gene of the bacterium E. coli. In November 1960, he was a visiting fellow at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, where fundamental discoveries were being made on gene regulation; in 1961, he joined the faculty at Brown and rose through the ranks as assistant professor (1961-1965), associate professor (1965-1970), professor of biology and then dean of biology (1970-1990), teaching courses in biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, and aging. He was the recipient of numerous teaching awards. His work on the studies of bacteria and Dictyostelium was funded by nine consecutive grants from NSF between 1961 and 1984. ​​In 1987, he began to study the biology of aging in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. He was published in many journals including Cell, Nature Biotechnology, Journal of Cell Biology, Genetics, Journal of Molecular Biology and others. From 1990 to 1995, he served as Brown’s Provost, eventually returning to faculty duties until he retired in 1997. In 1994, he was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and in 1995, the Frank and Joan Rothman Commencement Forum lecture was established by President Vartan Gregorian recognizing the career-long contributions Frank and his wife made to Brown. In retirement, he remained active with the Progeria Research Foundation and with Project Kaleidoscope on undergraduate science education. He is survived by four children, including daughter, Maria Rothman Boyd ’82 and her spouse Taylor Boyd ’86; five grandchildren, including granddaughter Elizabeth Rothman ’13; and grandson Alex Rothman’10; and one great-grandchild. A celebration of life is planned for Oct. 27 at 4:oo in Manning Chapel.  For more information, contact Maria at [email protected].