Obituaries: David Gibson

Abstract

David T. Gibson, Professor Emeritus of Microbiology at the University of Iowa, passed away on 24 July 2014 at the age of 76. Dave was a beloved husband, father, and grandfather, a gifted scientist, teacher and lecturer, and a dear friend to so many. Gibson was born in Wakefield in 1938, and spent his early years in Redcar, on the northeast coast of Yorkshire. He emigrated with his wife Janet to the United States in 1964 after receiving his B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in biochemistry at The University of Leeds. In 1967, after postdoctoral studies with Charles Sih at the University of Wisconsin and Reino Kallio at the University of Illinois, he joined the faculty of the Department of Microbiology at The University of Texas at Austin. The following year he returned to England and was employed as a research scientist at the Pharmaceuticals Division of Imperial Chemical Industries. In 1969 he returned to The University of Texas, eventually rising to the positions of Professor and Director of The Center for Applied Microbiology. In 1988 he moved to The University of Iowa to take the first endowed Edwin B. Green Chair in Biocatalysis and Microbiology, a position he held until his retirement in 2004.