Obituary: Jacob Schaefer III

Jacob Schaefer III, 83, died June 27 in Saint Louis, Missouri.

“Jake published the first ¹³C NMR spectra of synthetic copolymers, the first magic-​angle spinning ¹³C NMR spectrum of a solid polymer, and the first cross-​​polarization magic angle spinning (CPMAS) ¹³C NMR spectra of polymers. His laboratory produced monumental NMR tools including CPMAS, rotational-echo, double-resonance (REDOR), and multichannel transmission line probes. Today, these tools are so widely used that they are simply referenced by their acronyms, and their impact on medicine, biochemistry, and materials science has been profound. Jake himself applied these techniques to important studies that led to advanced understanding of proteins, living cell metabolism, and polymers.”—Lee G. Sobotka, Lynette Cegelski, Richard Loomis, and Karen Wooley, colleagues

Most recent title: Charles Allen Thomas Emeritus Professor of ­Chemistry, Washington University in St. Louis

Education: BS, chemistry, Carnegie Institute of Technology, 1960; PhD, chemistry, University of Minnesota, 1964

Survivors: Wife, Diana Dickes; children, Jill Myers, Jacob IV, and Thomas; five grandchildren; first wife, Jane

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