A tribute to Eddy Fischer (April 6, 1920–August 27, 2021): Passionate biochemist and mentor

Abstract

Edmond (Eddy) Fischer was one of the great biochemists of the 20th and 21st centuries. He was also a gifted pianist, an avid mountain climber, and a pilot, a true man of the world who lived on three continents and spoke many languages fluently. Having spent his childhood in China and Europe, Eddy was formally schooled in Switzerland and began his studies at the University of Geneva in 1939, just as Hitler was invading Poland. After receiving his doctorate in Chemistry at the University of Geneva, he went to the California Institute of Technology, but was then quickly recruited to the fledgling Department of Biochemistry at the University of Washington in 1953 by Hans Neurath, where the mountains as well as the biochemistry were a big attraction. Seattle remained his home for the rest of his life, but the world was his home and his impact radiated across many continents. In Seattle he met Edwin Krebs, who had been recruited in 1948, and in the next few years these two young scientists changed the course of history for all of us. They laid the foundation for a community of scholars that extended across the world and Eddy, in particular, became a friend and mentor to all of us. His sphere of influence extended well beyond those who trained directly in his laboratory. In the 1950s, Ed and Eddy built quickly on the foundation that was laid at Washington University in St. Louis by Gerty and Carl Cori, two other earlier transplants from Europe, and made a discovery that changed the world of biology and won them the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1992 (1). They discovered that proteins in cells are dynamically regulated by the covalent addition of a phosphate moiety from ATP, and that two enzymes catalyze … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: staylor{at}ucsd.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1