Lester J. Reed (January 3, 1925,

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, Louisiana – January 14, 2015) was an American biochemist, having been the Ashbel Smith Professor Emeritus at

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...

(UTA), and also a National Academy of Sciences member. He received his Bachelor of Science from

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

in 1943, where he worked with William Shive, and earned his doctorate from 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 ...

in 1946 at the age of 21. He then moved to

Cornell University Medical School The Joan & Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University is Cornell University's biomedical research unit and medical school located in Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York. Weill Cornell Medicine is affiliated with NewY ...

for a two-year postdoctorate in the laboratory of

Vincent du Vigneaud Vincent du Vigneaud (May 18, 1901 – December 11, 1978) was an American biochemist. He was recipient of the 1955 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his work on biochemically important sulphur compounds, especially for the first synthesis of a polypep ...

from 1946 to 1948. Having worked at UTA since 1948, the Lester J. Reed Professorship was named in his honor in 1997 and the current holder is Dean R. Appling. In 1977, he was given an honorary doctorate from

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reed, Lester J. 1925 births 2015 deaths American biochemists Tulane University alumni University of Illinois alumni Cornell University alumni University of Texas at Austin faculty