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In Memoriam |
Northwestern University Chicago, Illinois
Dante (Dan) Giovanni Scarpelli, M.D., Ph.D., former Chairman of the Department of Pathology at Northwestern University Medical School, died at the age of 71 on September 12, 1998, of esophageal adenocarcinoma.
Dan was born in Padua, Italy in 1927 and emigrated with his parents to the United States in 1928. He was raised in Cleveland, Ohio, and after high school served in the Marine Corps from 1944 to 1947. He was graduated from Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio in 1950 with a Bachelor of Science degree. He received M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Ohio State University in 1954 and 1960, respectively. Part of his Ph.D. research was conducted in the Laboratory of Histochemistry at the Postgraduate Medical School of the University of London. From 1954 to 1959 he also completed the residency training requirements in Anatomical Pathology at the University of Ohio Hospital in Columbus under the tutelage of Professor E. von Haam. He subsequently joined the Department of Pathology, Ohio State University, as an Assistant Professor and rose to the rank of full Professor in 1965. From 1966 to 1976, he was Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pathology and Oncology. He also served as the Dean for Faculties and Academic Affairs from 1973 to 1976 at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas. In 1976, Dan moved to Northwestern University Medical School to become Chairman of the Department of Pathology, a position he held until 1992.
The defining period of his scientific life was the time he spent with Professor A. G. E. Pearse, a well-known histochemist, at the Postgraduate Medical School in London as part of his Ph.D. thesis work. Dan published a series of pioneering papers with Dr. Pearse from 1958 to 1960 on the cytochemical localization of succinic dehydrogenase in mitochondria and the fine structural localization of other enzymes by the monotetrazolium-cobalt chelation method (Pearse and Scarpelli 1958, Nature 181:702–703; Hess, Scarpelli, and Pearse 1958, Nature 181:1531–1532; Scarpelli et al 1958, J Biophys Biochem Cytol 4:747–752; Pearse et al 1960, J Biophys Biochem Cytol 7:243–249). This early work on the histochemistry and cytochemistry of oxidative enzymes subsequently led him to the exploration of these techniques to study important problems in pathology such as a variety of cell injuries and early changes in neoplasia. While at the Ohio State University, Dan developed an interest in comparative pathology as a result of his studies of hepatic cell hyperplasia, adenoma, and hepatoma in rainbow trout, Salmo gairdnerii. (Scarpelli et al 1963, Cancer Res 23:848–857). The spontaneous and experimental disease processes of lower vertebrates and invertebrates fascinated him. During the last two decades of his life, Dan devoted his efforts to investigating the pathogenic and molecular mechanisms of pancreatic carcinogenesis using the hamster pancreatic model system. His group has made significant contributions to our understanding of the relative contributions of pancreatic acinar and ductal epithelium to the overall metabolism of chemical carcinogens, and in assessing the frequency of mutations in oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes in chemically induced pancreatic cancers (Chang et al 1994, Cancer Res 54:3878–3883; Chang et al 1995, Cancer Res 55:2560–2568). Another noteworthy contribution is that he and his colleagues have described and characterized hepatocytes differentiating in hamster pancreas (Scarpelli and Rao 1981, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 78:2577–2581). He held an NIH Research Career Development Award early in his career (1958–1966) and also held NIH RO1 support for research on pancreatic carcinogenesis from 1986 until his death.
Dan Scarpelli was a devoted teacher of medical students and served as a mentor for residents and graduate students throughout his illustrious career. Dan's passion and zeal, combined with his irrepressible warmth and charm, served him well as a teacher and role model. For many years during his tenure as Chairman, Dan was highly supportive of pathology residents and fellows who attempted to combine pathology training with experimental pathology. He made it possible for me and others to establish scientific careers.
His numerous honors and awards include the Doctor of Science (Hon.) from Baldwin-Wallace College (1966), the Gold Medal for "Paduans Who Have Honored Italy" (1980), and the K. P. Dubois Award of the Society of Toxicology (1993). He served on numerous advisory councils and committees nationally and internationally and on the editorial boards of many prestigious journals. He was President of the Association of Pathology Chairs in 1972 and of the American Association of Pathologists in 1983. In 1998, his colleagues at Northwestern and elsewhere were instrumental establishing an endowed fellowship, the Dante G. Scarpelli Research Fellowship in Pathology, to support a junior faculty member at the Medical School who exemplifies the same excitement, dedication, and love for pathology that marked the career of Dan Scarpelli.
He leaves a loving family to which he was devoted: his wife Harriett, son Michael, two daughters, Mrs. April Mosser and Mrs. Harriett Trangucci, and five grandchildren.
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