Donald Berthold Zilversmit (July 11, 1919 – September 16, 2010) was a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

-born

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

nutritional biochemist, researcher and educator. He spent much of his career at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

as Professor in the Division of Nutritional Sciences. Zilversmit was born in

Hengelo Hengelo (; Tweants: ) is a city in the eastern part of the Netherlands, in the province of Overijssel. The city lies along the motorways A1/E30 and A35 and it has a station for the international Amsterdam – Hannover – Berlin service. Popu ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, the son of Herman and Elizabeth (DeWinter) Zilversmit. He began studies at

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...

but escaped before the German invasion in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. He came to the United States in 1939 to finish his studies at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

(B.S., 1940, Ph.D. 1948). He joined a Dutch brigade during the war. He married Kitty Fonteyn in 1945. She wrote of her time in hiding and their separation during the

Nazi occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 ...

in ''Yours Always, A Holocaust Love Story''. They have three daughters. He was on the faculty of the University of Tennessee Medical College from 1948 to 1966. He received a Career Investigator Award from the American Heart Association in 1959. Zilversmit joined the faculty of Cornell's Graduate School of Nutrition in 1966 and remained until retirement in 1990. He was awarded an honorary degree from Utrecht University in 1980 and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1989. Zilversmit authored or co-authored over 300 publications and made major contributions to the understanding of the relationship between

diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

and cardiovascular disease. He greatly contributed to the understanding of

atherogenesis Atherosclerosis is a pattern of the disease arteriosclerosis in which the wall of the artery develops abnormalities, called lesions. These lesions may lead to narrowing due to the buildup of atheromatous plaque. At onset there are usually no sy ...

, including basic mechanisms in

lipid Lipids are a broad group of naturally-occurring molecules which includes fats, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins (such as vitamins A, D, E and K), monoglycerides, diglycerides, phospholipids, and others. The functions of lipids includ ...

transport and exchange. He co-founded the ''

Journal of Lipid Research The ''Journal of Lipid Research'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal that was established in 1959. Since 2000, it has been published by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. It covers research on lipids in health ...

''. He died on September 16, 2010 in Canton, Mass.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zilversmit, Donald 1919 births American biochemists Dutch biochemists UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni Cornell University faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences People from Hengelo 2010 deaths Dutch emigrants to the United States