Hanover, NH – Gustav E. Lienhard, Professor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, died on March 31, 2026.
Gus was born in 1938 in Metuchen, New Jersey, the son of Gustav and Fannie Lienhard. He attended The Hill School and Amherst College, and then received his PhD in Biochemistry from Yale. After a postdoctoral fellowship at Brandeis, Gus joined the Department of Biochemistry at Harvard as an Assistant Professor.
Gus spent every summer of his childhood at Ragged Lake Camp in Andover, where he developed a deep affection for New Hampshire. He particularly loved swimming in New Hampshire’s lakes and ponds. In his younger years, Gus never saw a rope swing he didn’t try. When Dartmouth Medical School offered Gus a position in 1972, he jumped at the chance to bring his wife Linda and their two young children to Hanover.
Gus loved his colleagues and students, and he loved conducting basic research. During his fifty-four years at Dartmouth, he studied the fundamental question of how cells take up glucose in response to insulin. Gus discovered several glucose transporter proteins that are crucial to this process. One of Gus’ colleagues explained: “Gus illuminated each step of the pathway, from the cell-surface protein which binds insulin, to the movement of the hidden transporters to the cell surface. His work is central to our current understanding of insulin action and of diabetes.”
Gus was also a devoted husband and father. Linda’s brother Kimball Temple and his wife Maria and their children lived nearby in Keene, so Gus, Linda, Kim and Maria teamed up to take their young families on epic hikes in the White Mountains, and on other camping, canoeing, and skiing adventures. The two families also spent many happy days together at a family farmhouse in West Wardsboro, Vermont. In later years, Gus enjoyed vacations with his grandchildren in St. John, trekking in the Alps with Linda, reading history books, watching Red Sox and Patriots games, and attending plays and concerts in the Upper Valley.
Gus is survived by Linda, his loving wife of 66 years, his daughter Laura Lienhard and her partner Zan Drejes, his son Bill Lienhard and his wife Launa Schweizer, his sister Susan Holmes, Kimball and Maria Temple, his cherished grandchildren Grace Lienhard, Abigail Lienhard, and Finn Does, and many more dear relatives, colleagues and friends.
The Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology held a beautiful memorial gathering for Gus, for which his family is very grateful. There will be a private burial in West Wardsboro, Vermont.
Donations in Gus’ honor may be made to northernstage.org.
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