HANOVER, NH — Dr. Elmer R. Pfefferkorn, age 87, died on Monday, March 25th, 2019. He died a natural death after living with Parkinson’s disease. He was born in Manitowoc, WI on December 13, 1931, the son of Elmer and Mollie (Meyer) Pfefferkorn.
After completing his education in the local primary schools, he graduated summa cum laude from Lawrence College in Appleton, WI. Awarded a Rhodes Scholarship, he studied two years at Oxford University in Oxford, England, earning First Class Honors in Physiology. He completed his graduate education at Harvard Medical School (HMS) with a PhD in Virology, joined the HMS faculty and four years later, was appointed the Silas Arnold Houghton Assistant Professor of Bacteriology and Immunology. At HMS, he met Lorraine Cassidy who was a research assistant in the same department. They married in 1964 and three years later moved to Hanover, NH, where Elmer accepted a professorship and joined the Dartmouth Medical School (DMS) faculty.
He later became the Chair of the Microbiology Department and during his twelve years as Chair, he strengthened the department and expanded its research focus. The first three faculty members he recruited each subsequently served as departmental chair, and one, William Green, went on to serve as Dean of DMS. Elmer’s research at HMS and DMS was supported by forty consecutive years of grants from the National Institute of Health (NIH). Early in his career, he was among the first to apply biochemical and genetic approaches to the study of animal viruses grown in cultured cells. Sindbis, the virus that he introduced to research, was rapidly adopted by laboratories world wide and remains extensively studied to this day. Elmer’s research in virology earned him election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1975.
In the second half of his research career, he turned to the then emerging field of biochemical and molecular parasitology. His studies of the biochemical genetics of Toxoplasma gondii established that organism as a widely used model for the investigation of intracellular parasitism. The definitive fifty-authored (2007) book on Toxoplasma was dedicated to him. In Brazil at the 2008 International Congress to mark the centenary of Toxoplasma’s discovery, he was awarded the Splendore-Nicolle Medal for “outstanding research in toxoplasmosis.” Throughout his career, he attempted to limit travel to maximize time spent on research. But he was an invited speaker in South America, England, Europe, and throughout the USA. He also served briefly in Geneva as a consultant to the World Health Organization, in Munich as an advisor to the Max Planck Society, and in Helsinki as a consultant on Finland’s virology research program.
In addition to many scientific papers, he wrote chapters in fourteen books and held several patents. He was appointed to the editorial boards of six scientific journals. He served the NIH with four-year terms on the Virology and on the Tropical Medicine and Parasitology Study Sections and was a scientific counselor to the National institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He also chaired the Molecular Parasitology Advisory Committee of the Burroughs-Welcome Fund. He maintained a career-long passion for medical education, serving many years on the DMS Admission Committee, five of them as Chair.
In the classroom, he was an enthusiastic and dedicated teacher of virology and parasitology. Students repeatedly honored him with awards for excellence and DMS described him as a “legendary teacher.” He retired in 1997 but continued his teaching and his grant-supporting research as an Active Emeritus Professor. He taught his last class in 2009. As his career drew to a close, a small DMS symposium recognized his role in teaching, research, and administration. All of the speakers were former students and fellows, headed by Nobel Laureate Mike Bishop, who began his research in Elmer’s laboratory at HMS. The symposium was the springboard for a rapidly successful campaign to fund a new endowed chair, the Elmer R. Pfefferkorn Professor of Microbiology and Immunology.
He was an avid reader and ardent bibliophile. One of his collecting interests was first editions of the 16th and 17th centuries chosen to illustrate the stylistic evolution of translation into English. Another was first editions of the 16th to 19th centuries related to Arctic exploration. He also collected first editions of his favorite authors, Dickens, Fielding, Sterne, Boswell, Whittier, and others. His collection was sold in 2008 in a series to auctions in New York City. His love of books also led to service on the Executive Committee of the Friends of Dartmouth Libraries. In his earlier years, he enjoyed squash, tennis, and autumn backpacking trips across the Presidential Range of the White Mountains with his young sons. In his later years, Elmer was slowed by worsening Parkinson’s disease. He was long a supporter of Dartmouth’s women’s and men’s sports, rarely missing a home game.
He was predeceased by his son David. Survivors include his wife Lorraine Cassidy Pfefferkorn and two sons Karl Wilhelm Pfefferkorn and Erich August Pfefferkorn. In accordance with his family’s wishes, there will be a Quaker style memorial gathering at Kendall.
In his last contribution to medical education, he donated his body to DMS. Memorial contributions may be sent to the General Scholarship Fund, c/o DMS Financial Aid Office, 7021 Remsen, Hanover NH, 03755-3833.