Professorships

Gift Honors Legendary Chemistry Professor

An alumnus has donated $1 million to a named professorship honoring the late Marshall Gates, who was known worldwide for his groundbreaking synthesis of morphine.

John Zabriskie ’66 (PhD), a graduate of the Department of Chemistry, along with his wife, Adelaide, gave the gift in remembrance of his one-time friend and mentor.

The Marshall D. Gates Jr. Chair in Chemistry was established in 2002 to honor the professor emeritus and C. F. Houghton Professor of Chemistry. Gates died on October 1, 2003.

A cofounder of PureTech, an Internet technology company, Zabriskie is the organizing chairman of Protein Forest and sits on the boards of Cellicon Biotechnologies and Nanopharma. He was president and CEO of Pharmacia and Upjohn. Prior to joining Upjohn in 1994, Zabriskie was executive vice president of Merck and Co.

Robert Boeckman Jr., chair of the chemistry department, holds the Gates professorship.