Memorial resolution

 

Adayapalam 'T. Ganesan
1932-1991

Adayapalam Tyagaraja Ganesan, Professor of Genetics, died of
an apparent heart attack at home on December 1, 1991 at the age
of 59. Thus ended abruptly his 30 years of dedicated service in teach-
ing and research in the Genetics Department at Stanford. At various
times during his life he had been plagued by ill health. In 1981 a series
of life threatening bouts with asthma began. He bore these afflictions
with courage and wry humor. Gradually the attacks abated and he
began to recover from the effects of the disease as well as the massive
doses of steroids used to treat it. His courageous and successful
comeback to full-time effort was a relief and inspiration to his friends
and colleagues at Stanford who deeply feel his loss as do the many
people world-wide, whose careers he influenced and lives he enriched.
He was greatly appreciated for his candor in all matters and his good
humored approach to life.

Gan, as he was affectionately called by students and colleagues,
was born in 1932 and spent his early life in Madras state in India. He
was a descendant of Appayya Dikshitar of Adayapalam. He attended
Annamalai University in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, where he earned
a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in 1953 and a Masters degree in
Botany in 1954. He worked in yeast cytogenetics as a Research Fellow
at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore before joining the Plant
Tissue Culture section of the Department of Genetics of the Indian Agri-
culture Research Institute in New Dethi, where he carried out work on
the embryo culture of jute in collaboration with Dr. M.S. Swaminathan.
He was awarded a Rask-@rsted Foundation Fellowship to study yeast
genetics from Ojvind Winge at the Carlsberg Laboratory in Copen-
hagen, Denmark, where he also studied cell physiology with Heinz
Holter and protein chemistry with Kaj Linderstrom-Lang. His early pa-
pers dealt with the kinetics of mitosis, the process of sporulation, and
the cytology of the life cycle of yeasts. He was known for meticulous
attention to detail and his persistence in striving for perfection in his
research. When he applied for graduate study, one of his recom-
menders wrote: “His cytological preparations are of a high degree of
excellence, and | have never seen any which surpass them.”

He joined the Department of Genetics at Stanford Medical School
in 1959 as a graduate student under Joshua Lederberg. Upon com-
pletion of his Ph.D. in 1963 he stayed on as a Postdoctoral fellow and
Research Associate in Genetics. In 1965 he was appointed Assistant
Professor in the Genetics Department, in which he advanced to As-
sociate Professor in 1970 and then Professor in 1976. Between 1975
and 1985 he participated in the US-USSR, US-Japan, US-France, and
US-India exchange program conferences. In 1975-76 he was a visiting

 

Adayapalam Ganesan,
professor of genetics,
spent his early life in
India and returned often
to share his professional
expertise and visit his
family in Thanjavur. In
1988 he helped set up the
Biotechnology Center at
the Indian Agricultural
Research institute

in New Delhi.

scholar in the Department of Biochemistry, Oxford University, England,
and in 1978 he was a visiting professor at the University of Pavia, Italy.

The contiguity of the Genetics and Biochemistry Departments in
the Medical School and the commonality of interests in microbial bio-
chemistry and DNA replication brought him into intimate contact with
the students and staff of several Biochemistry research groups, includ-
ing those of Dale Kaiser, Arthur Kornberg and Robert Lehman. In re-
cent years, with his focus on DNA polymerase III and germination in
8. subtilis, Gan became a contributing member at the weekly research
meetings of the Kornberg group.

In 1988 Gan helped to set up the Biotechnology Center at the indian
Agricultural Research Institute in New Delhi. He served generally as
a consultant to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United
Nations with regard to biotechnological applications in agriculture for
third world and developing countries. He ran an advanced course on
Recombinant DNA technology in Agriculture in 1989 in New Delhi.
These activities were representative of his continuing devotion and
feeling of responsibility toward his homeland. in addition to his very
full schedule of research and teaching activities at Stanford, he always
felt an obligation to bring to india some of the benefits of his extensive
training and experience. He returned to India as frequently as possible
to share his professional expertise and to visit his family in Thanjavur.

Ganesan became one of the internationally recognized leaders in
research on the Bacilli. He carried out important early studies on the
mechanism of genetic transformation in B. subtilis in the course of his
graduate research. He then moved into the field of DNA replication
and repair. He was one of the first to provide evidence for the mem-
brane association of bacterial DNA. With his student, Phil Laipis, he
isolated and characterized the first B. subtilis mutant deficient in DNA

polymerase |. He then identified both Polymerases !I and Ill in these
bacteria. He also characterized the genome and replication properties
of several bacterial viruses. He was one of the first to engage in the
introduction and characterization of prokaryotic genes in mammalian
cells. Ganesan won a Research Career Development Award from the
National Institutes of Health and an American Lung Association Re-
search Award in recognition of his research contributions and the
promise of more to come.

A masterly achievement with wide repercussions was his organi-
zation of six international conferences on the Genetics and Biotech-
nology of Bacilli with over 300 attendees, four of them held at Stanford.
In collaboration with Dr. J.A. Hoch he secured the funds, organized
the program, housing and entertainment, edited five volumes of pro-
ceedings and brought off these complex events with minimal confusion
and universal approbation. One of his favorite tasks was designing
the announcement posters.and covers for the Abstract booklets for
the conferences. :

Although his primary professional commitment was to first rate sci-
entific research Ganesan was also well-known and admired by his stu-
dents as a deeply committed teacher. Much of his teaching was with
small student groups and individuals in the laboratory. However, for

many years he taught a very popular lecture course in cytogenetics, _

which emphasized experimental approaches to the field. His students
remember him for his informal friendliness and sense of humor as well
as for his demand for rigor in their scientific work with him.

Gan was a superb experimentalist ranging with technical proficiency
from cytology and microbial genetics to enzymology and site-directed
mutagenesis. He was equally proficient in the kitchen, an outstanding
chef with cuisines that included a variety of European and unique In-
dian dishes. As a naturalist, he nurtured a variety of animais exem-
plified by an iguana that grew to six feet and a feeding station for wild
raccoons in his yard. For less green-thumbed friends, he maintained
an intensive care unit for their ailing orchids.

Ganesan was a warm, sensitive human being who related with gen-
uine excitement to the world about him. He was a member of the World
Wildlife fund and he was keenly interested in supporting animal welfare
and wildlife. He also had interests in photography, wood carving, and
music. He had served on the board of directors at Ali Akbar College
of Music in India since 1987 and also supported the college in many
other ways.

In 1963 Gan married Ann Katharine Cook, currently a Senior Re-
search Scientist in Biology at Stanford. He is also survived by his moth-
er, Savitri, a sister and three brothers in India, and another brother in
The Netherlands.

Philip C. Hanawait, Chair
Arthur Kornberg
Joshua Lederberg

 

June 17, 1992 CAMPUS REPORT 21

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