Yale Bulletin and Calendar

September 13-20, 1999

Volume 28, Number 4

Memorial service will be held for Joseph Coleman

A memorial service will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 21, for long-time faculty member Dr. Joseph E. Coleman, a professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry, who died on June 28. He was 68 years old.

The service will begin at 4 p.m. in Battell chapel, corner of College and Elm streets.

Dr. Coleman concentrated his research and teaching on areas ranging from biophysics to medicine. Specifically, he was involved in research on protein chemistry, enzymology and DNA-protein interactions. He authored more than 150 scientific articles on these and other subjects.

"Dr. Coleman developed the area of knowledge we now have about the chemistry of metalloproteins and was a leader in the use of nuclear magnetic resonance for the study of biomolecules," says his colleague William H. Konigsberg, professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry.

Another colleague, Dieter Söll, adds: "Dr. Coleman was a man of principle who took teaching --the education of the next generation -- very seriously. He also had a strong sense of the position of molecular biophysics and biochemistry and the role of the department both at the University and the School of Medicine." While the department is part of the medical school, faculty in the department teach medical students, undergraduates in Yale College and students in the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.

Dr. Coleman joined the Yale faculty as an assistant professor of biochemistry in 1964. Throughout his career, he guided many medical and doctoral students. He served as acting chair of the department of biochemistry 1966-69, director of the Medical Scientist Training Program 1970-75 and chair of the department of molecular biophysics and biochemistry 1976-82. He became a full professor in 1975.

Born in Iowa City, Iowa, Dr. Coleman earned both his B.A. and M.D. degrees from the University of Virginia in 1953 and 1957, respectively, and held an M.D. degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He completed his internship at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston and then served as a research fellow in medicine at the Harvard Medical School and in the department of medicine at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. After earning a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1963, Dr. Coleman was a senior assistant resident at Peter Bent Brigham and an assistant in medicine and tutor in medical science at Harvard Medical School for a year before coming to Yale.

Dr. Coleman was a visiting professor of bioinorganic chemistry at the University of Florence, Italy, in 1988. He served on the editorial boards of a number of scientific journals, including Protein Science, Biochemistry, the Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry, and Biometals.

He was a member of the American Society of Biological Chemists, the American Chemical Society and the Biophysical Society, among other organizations.

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

New fund will bring noted authors to Yale to nurture students' creativity

Celebration marks reopening of remodeled gallery

Exhibit reveals the many faces of Abe Lincoln

Yale Rep opens season with tale of humorous antics of hypochondriac

Deborah Thomas is named to new posts in Woodbridge Hall

Bjong 'Wolf' Yeigh is appointed as assistant provost

Memorial service will be held for Joseph Coleman

'Europe Beyond 2000' marks inauguration of new YCIAS council

Conference at the School of Forestry to assess health of the Quinnipiac River

In the News . . .

Tailgate celebrates Cozza's new book

Special offers make the Yale Rep 'affordable and accessible to all'

Chasing after the Championship: A Photo Essay