Herman van Halbeek

Herman van Halbeek, 59, a chemist and spectroscopy expert, died in Yorba Linda, Calif., on March 23.

Born in Sittard, the Netherlands, Halbeek earned a B.S. in 1974 and an M.S. in 1978, both in bioorganic and clinical chemistry, before earning a Ph.D. in chemistry in 1982. All three degrees were from Utrecht University, in the Netherlands. He then served as a postdoctoral research associate in the university’s bioorganic chemistry department.

Moving to the U.S. in 1985, Halbeek joined the faculty of the University of Georgia, Athens, as an assistant professor in the departments of biochemistry and chemistry. In 1989, he became an associate professor, remaining in that role until 1996, when he moved briefly to the Rega Institute for Medical Research at Catholic University of Leuven, in Belgium.

Subsequently, Halbeek worked as a senior research scientist and director at the Glycobiology Research & Training Center of the University of California, San Diego, from 1997 until 2003. He then became a senior research chemist and codirector of nuclear magnetic resonance science and technology within the UC Berkeley College of Chemistry until 2007. He next served as a senior staff chemist and spectroscopy group leader at Exova’s Health Sciences & Analytical Division, in Santa Fe Springs, Calif.

He was a member of the Association of Managers of Magnetic Resonance Laboratories, the International Society for Magnetic Resonance, and ACS, which he joined in 1986.

Halbeek is survived by two brothers and one sister.