Deaths |
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September 2, 2014, Volume 61, No. 03 |
Ms. Broadnax, Center for Africana Studies
Dr. Jin, Pharmacology
Dr. Katz, History
Mr. Reed, Penn Senior
Ms. Broadnax, Center for Africana Studies
Deborah Broadnax, a retired administrative coordinator in the Center for Africana Studies, passed away August 24 from pneumonia at age 60.
Ms. Broadnax came to Penn in 1990 as an editorial assistant for the Journal of Theoretical Biology. After the journal moved to Santa Fe, she worked in the Graduate School of Fine Arts and for several years held various positions in the history department. She retired from the Center for Africana Studies in 2013.
Prior to Penn, she worked in various capacities in TV news for Fox 29 and KYW Channel 3.
Ms. Broadnax is survived by her husband, Anthony Woodburry; daughter, Holly Woodburry; stepdaughter, Adrienne; granddaughter, Bria; and three sisters, Sandra Burney, Loretta London and Tamara Frazier.
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Dr. Jin, Pharmacology
Yi “Jinyi” Jin, research assistant professor of pharmacology in the Perelman School of Medicine, passed away August 1 from cancer; she was 45.
Dr. Jin came to the University of Pennsylvania as a postdoctoral fellow in 2000 following postdoctoral training in the department of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Minnesota with Dr. John D. Lipscomb. At the University of Minnesota, she studied the biophysics of soluble methane monooxygenases and earned her PhD in 2000. Before that she graduated from Beijing University earning a BSc in 1990 and MSc in 1993 with training in x-ray crystallography.
In the laboratory of Dr. Trevor Penning, Dr. Jin went from postdoctoral fellow to research associate and then to research assistant professor in 2008. In the Penning laboratory she published a body-of-work on the structure-function of human steroid metabolizing enzymes that belong to the aldo-keto reductase superfamily, resulting in 28 peer-reviewed publications in premier journals such as Biochemistry, J. Biological Chemistry and The Biochemical Journal. Seminal contributions were the elucidation of the structure of type 3 3alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, involved in the inactivation of the potent androgen 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone; and dissection of its kinetic mechanism using stopped-flow spectroscopy.
She also made insightful contributions to the understanding of the metabolism of hormone replacement therapeutics and inhaled glucocorticoids. Just before her illness she embarked on an independent series of studies to investigate the functional consequences of NADPH: P450 oxidoreductase (POR) natural mutants, the principal electron donor to P450 isozymes; this work was being performed collaboratively with Dr. Walter Miller, distinguished professor of pediatrics and chief of endocrinology at UCSF. She was on the cusp of obtaining her own RO1 support to follow this field of inquiry.
Dr. Jin is survived by her husband, Jano Jusuf; her sons, Kai and Orion Jusuf; her mother, Fengyu Shen, and father, Chunsong Jin; and her brother, Bo Jin.
Donations may be sent to: Jano Jusuf, 5542 Ryland Ave., Temple City, CA 91780.
A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m., followed by a reception, on Thursday, September 25, in BRBII/III Auditorium, 421 Curie Blvd., at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine.
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Dr. Katz, History
Michael B. Katz, the Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History, died on August 23 from cancer at age 75.
Dr. Katz came to Penn as a full professor in 1978 and chaired the history department from 1991-1995 and 2011-2012.
He co-directed the Urban Studies Program from 1983 until 1996. Early in his tenure as co-director, he restructured the curriculum, balancing multi-disciplinary coursework with a core of shared experiences and turned Penn’s program into a model for other such programs around the country. He combined academic rigor and student engagement with the wider community. Dr. Katz also inaugurated the annual Urban Studies lecture to bring a major urban scholar to campus. “Just as important to Michael as the lecture was the lunchtime discussion with our seniors, at which they questioned the lecturers’ methods and conclusions,” said Mark Stern and Elaine Simon, co-directors of the Urban Studies Program. “As in his own interaction with students, Michael saw these sessions as an opportunity to illuminate the puzzles and discoveries of intellectual life as the seniors completed their papers.”
From 1989-1995, Dr. Katz served as archivist to the Social Science Research Council’s Committee for Research on the Urban Underclass and in 1992 was a member of the Task Force to Reduce Welfare Dependency appointed by Pennsylvania Governor Robert P. Casey.
“His scholarship transformed our understanding of three important aspects of American history,” said Dr. Stern and Dr. Simon. “His early work on the history of school reform in the 19th century challenged the dominant narrative of progressive improvement and asked if the emergence of large, bureaucratic school systems was inevitable. He then turned to the study of class and family structure of North American cities in several books that sharpened our understanding of how ethnicity, social inequality and public institutions shaped cities. Finally, his research on the history of social welfare discovered the long, generally underappreciated role of government in providing aid to low-income populations. In his last major book, Why Don’t American Cities Burn?, he synthesized much of his earlier work to challenge progressives to develop a counter-narrative of American cities that finds a place for both skepticism and hope.”
Dr. Katz published extensively and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. In 1999, he received a Senior Scholar Award, marking a lifetime of achievement from the Spencer Foundation. At Penn, he was given the Provost’s Award for Distinguished Graduate Student Teaching and Mentoring in 2007 (Almanac April 17, 2007).
Dr. Katz was a Guggenheim Fellow and a resident fellow at institutes including the Russell Sage Foundation and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He was awarded research grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Institute on Education and a number of foundations. He was a fellow of the National Academy of Education, National Academy of Social Insurance, the Society of American Historians and a member of the American Philosophical Society. He was past-president of the History of Education Society and of the Urban History Association.
Before coming to Penn, Dr. Katz was a professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and the University of Toronto and then a professor at York University. He had also been a visiting associate professor at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education and a visiting scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center, the Shelby Cullom Davis Center at Princeton, the Russell Sage Foundation and the Institute for Advanced Study.
Educated at Harvard, Dr. Katz received a BA in 1961, an MAT in 1962 and an EdD in 1966.
Dr. Katz is survived by his wife, Edda, a retired staff member in Information Systems and Computing; son, Paul; daughters, Rebecca and Sarah; seven grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.
The history department and urban studies program will host a memorial for Dr. Michael B. Katz on Monday, September 22 at 5 p.m. in rm. 200, College Hall.
Contributions may be made to HIAS Pennsylvania via http://hiaspa.org/, Bread & Roses community fund via http://breadrosesfund.org/ or the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania via www.penncancer.org/patients/giving/
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Mr. Reed, Penn Senior
Theodric “Theo” Reed, a senior in the College, passed away on August 24 at age 22, before returning to campus.
A resident of California, Mr. Reed was an English major with a concentration in law and literature.
Mr. Reed is survived by his mother, Linda Douglas; aunt, Jacqueline Newsom; and three cousins.
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