Lowell P. Hager (1926 − 15 April 2014) was an internationally known enzymologist and protein chemist. He was head of the Department of Biochemistry at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

where he was a member of the faculty since 1960 and head of the department for 20 years. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1995. He was best known for his work on halogenating enzymes and heme peroxidases, chemicals found widely in biochemical systems.

Early life and education

He was born in 1926 and raised in the small town of Hepler, Kansas. He has a bachelor's degree from

Valparaiso University Valparaiso University (Valpo) is a private university in Valparaiso, Indiana. It is a Lutheran university with about 3,000 students from over 50 countries on a campus of . Originally named Valparaiso Male and Female College, Valparaiso Universit ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, earned in 1947. He has a master's degree (1950) from the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

and a PhD (1953) from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He worked in the laboratory of I.C. "Gunny" Gunsalus, and for his postdoctoral studies he worked with

Fritz Lipmann Fritz Albert Lipmann (; June 12, 1899 – July 24, 1986) was a German-American biochemist and a co-discoverer in 1945 of coenzyme A. For this, together with other research on coenzyme A, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in ...

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

Career

In 1955 he joined the chemistry department at Harvard, but returned to the University of Illinois where he joined the faculty in 1960, where he remained for the rest of his career. He was the head of the Division of Biochemistry from 1967 until 1969 and then became the first head of the school's newly created Department of Biochemistry.

Awards and honors

In 1995 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. He was also the inaugural recipient of the William Rutter Chair in Biochemistry in 1996.

Personal life

Hager married Frances Faye Erea in 1948, who died in 2003. Together they had three children, including journalist Steven Hager. He died on 15 April 2014 and was survived by his four children and six grandchildren.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hager, Lowell P. American biochemists University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty 1926 births 2014 deaths Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences People from Kansas