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Sun May 28 15:45:12 1989 1

The Rockefeller University Campus Community
President Joshua Lederberg

It is with great sadness that I inform you that
Professor Ernst Friedheim died in his 89th year, on
Friday, May 26, in his home following a brief ill-
ness. He continued to be active in the laboratory
until the very end, having returned from a research
conference in Kenya only a month ago.

Dr. Friedheim’s first association with our
university was in 1930, when he studied with Leonor
Michaelis in biophysics. He had an M.D. from
Zurich, and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University
of Geneva, where he conducted most of his scientific
research, principally on the chemotherapy of parasi-
tic diseases. In 1978 he returned to the
Rockefeller University, and remained here as a
Visiting Professor, giving us the benefit of his
incomparable experience in field and laboratory on
the properties and uses of organo-arsenicals.

He is perhaps best known for the development of
melarsoprol, which remains today as one of the most
effective drugs for the treatment of trypanosomiasis
(African Sleeping Sickness). More recently, he
worked on chelating drugs for the treatment of pois-
oning by heavy metals, and their accumulation in the
choroid plexus with aging. His current studies were
on the accumulation? arsenicals in tumors, and
exploiting this phenomenon both for radiodiagnosis
and therapy. Many people regarded arsenicals (and
antimonials) as too toxic to be useful; he showed
that this mythical phobia was no better deserved
than for many other drugs commonly used for diffi-
cult challenges, and many lives have benefitted from
his pragmatic insights.

Funeral services are private.

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