John H. Weisburger

John H. Weisburger, 92, an expert in chemical carcinogenesis, died at his home in White Plains, N.Y., on Feb. 17, 2014.

Born in Stuttgart, Germany, Weisburger lived in Belgium and France for several years before moving to Cuba in 1940.

He studied chemistry at the University of Havana before moving to the U.S. He served a two-year stint in the U.S. Army before earning a B.S. degree in 1947, an M.S. in 1948, and a Ph.D. in 1949, all in chemistry from the University of Cincinnati.

Weisburger was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and in 1950, he joined the Public Health Service as a biochemist assigned to NCI. For 10 years, he was involved in studies on the metabolism and mechanism of action of 2-acetylaminofluorene, which induces tumors and is a useful biochemical tool in the study of carcinogenesis.

In 1961, Weisburger was tasked to form a new unit to test environmental and industrial compounds for possible toxicity and carcinogenicity. This project eventually became the NCI Bioassay Program, which was later transferred to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences as the National Toxicology Program.

In 1966, he and his then-wife, Elizabeth K. Weisburger, published a C&EN article, “Chemicals as Causes of Cancer,” which provided a comprehensive overview of a variety of carcinogenic compounds(DOI: 10.1021/cen-v044n006.p124).

Weisburger retired from NCI in 1972 and joined the American Health Foundation in Valhalla, N.Y. He later moved to New York Medical College in Valhalla as a research professor of pathology.

Weisburger is credited with many papers on carcinogenicity. He traveled widely for meetings and lectures and received many honors, including distinguished service medals from the American Society of Preventive Oncology and the American Health Foundation. He was a member of numerous organizations and an emeritus member of ACS, which he joined in 1946.

He is survived by Elizabeth and his second wife, Helga; two sons; a daughter; two stepchildren; four grandchildren; eight step-grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.