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Prof. David Elson Sheppard

July 28, 2020, in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, from complications due to pancreatic cancer.

Born in Chester, Pennsylvania, David attended public schools through ninth grade and graduated from the Mount Hermon School for Boys. He received his bachelor’s degree in biology from Amherst College and a PhD in biology-genetics from Johns Hopkins in 1964.

Sheppard taught biology at Reed from 1963 to 65, and then held a NSF postdoctoral fellowship in biology sciences at the UC Santa Barbara. He taught courses in genetics and biochemistry and performed research in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Delaware until he retired in 2005. His research interests were in the area of the control of gene expression in bacteria.

David married Gayle Lea Drummey in 1960. She survives him as do their children, Rebecca, Paul, and Marc.

Appeared in Reed magazine: December 2020

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