Yale Bulletin & Calendar
Obituary

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Edgar J. Boell

Edgar J. Boell, the Ross Granville Harrison Professor Emeritus of Experimental Zoology and Biology, died Nov. 10 in Venice, Florida, after a long illness. He was 90 years old.

Not only was Professor Boell a respected teacher and researcher, he also held several key administrative posts during his long career at Yale, including executive secretary of the search committee that brought A. Bartlett Giammati to the Yale presidency in 1978.

A specialist in experimental embryology and developmental physiology, Professor Boell chaired Yale's zoology department 1956- 62. In 1969, he served as acting dean of Yale College, overseeing academic and administrative matters for undergraduate students during a volatile era of campus political activism. He was master of Jonathan Edwards College 1975-77, and acting secretary of the University in 1979.

Professor Boell was honored for his long and dedicated service to Yale in 1979 with the presentation of a Yale Medal, the highest award of the Association of Yale Alumni. His award citation lauded him for "gentle but strong help in Yale's times of need, and for a lifetime of teaching and scholarship."

Born in Iowa in1906, Mr. Boell was awarded a B.A. by the University of Dubuque in 1929 and a Ph.D. by the State University of Iowa in 1935. In 1937-1938, he studied at Cambridge University, England, as a fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation, and in 1938 he was appointed instructor of biology at Yale. He was promoted to assistant professor in 1940, associate professor in 1941 and professor in 1946. That same year, he was named to the Harrison Professorship of Experimental Zoology. In 1953-1954, he held a Fulbright Award for research at the Carlsberg Laboratories in Copenhagen and, in 1963-1964, a Guggenheim Memorial Award to do research in Rome and Naples. He retired from Yale in 1975.

He was married to the former Mildred Cottingham of Dubuque, now a resident of Venice, Florida. He also is survived by two children, Karl D. Bell of Kona, Hawaii, and Dorothy B. Bradis of Venice; and two grandchildren, Katie and Jessica, of Venice. Arrangements for a memorial service at Yale will be announced at a later date.


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