One of our dearest colleagues, Professor Norman Alpert, passed away this
last Sunday at his home in Shelburne, Vermont. Norman Alpert was an
internationally recognized expert in the area of cardiac hypertrophy and
energetics. He began his academic career as an Assistant Professor in the
Department of Physiology at the University of Illinois in Chicago. He then
became Professor and Chair of the Department of Physiology & Biophysics at
the University of Vermont in 1966. During his 29 years as Chair, Professor
Alpert built one of the premier departments of muscle biology that focused
on heart failure. His honors and contributions to science were numerous and
befitting the man he was. At the age of 82, Norman was still quite active,
being Principal Investigator of an NIH R01 grant and first author on a
manuscript in AJP that is in press concerning Familial Hypertrophic
Cardiomyopathy.
Norman had many interests not to mention the theater, boating, and being
the President of a major biotech firm, Lionheart Technologies Inc. For those
of you who were fortunate enough to have crossed paths with Norman, you will
instantly agree that his love of life and science were infectious. I,
personally, was one of the lucky ones to have had Norm as my mentor. We will
all miss him as does his loving wife, Laurel, two sons, Adam and Briar, his
daughter Jamie, and his grandchildren. I saw Norman just recently and even
as his heart was failing, he still reminded me that there is "lots to do,
lots to do."
At this time, as per the request of the family, there are no services
scheduled.
