Arthur Chovnick

Arthur Chovnick, a pioneer of modern genetic analysis in higher organisms, passed away on Monday, September 5, 2011, after a long illness. Dr. Chovnick created materials and strategies that shaped the framework of his field for several decades. His breakthrough methods for approaching the analysis of recombination and gene organization using Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) rather than micro-organisms (bacteria and phages) allowed a vast expansion of genetic studies. As professor of Genetics and Cell Biology at the University of Connecticut, his intellectual impact continues through the many students and postdoctoral fellows he trained, as well as through his editorial positions at the journals Genetics, Genetical Research, and Fundamental Genetics. His influence extended through his work as director of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (1960-1962), as fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (since 1963), and through his active memberships in the Genetics Society of America and the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, where he was a founding member. Dr. Chovnick contributed ninety articles to respected scientific journals on the topics of organization and control of eukaryotic gene expression, developmental genetics, recombination mechanisms, transposable elements, and transformation. First awarded a National Institute of Health (NIH) postdoctoral research fellowship in 1953, upon earning his Ph.D. in genetics from Ohio State University, Dr. Chovnick proudly maintained the longest continuous grant in the history of the NIH, running from 1953 and past his retirement as Emeritus Professor in 1994. Dr. Chovnick also received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Guelph University, as well as the University of Connecticut Alumni Association Research Excellence Award. Earlier in life, he interrupted his undergraduate studies at Indiana University to serve in the Navy during WWll. Arthur Chovnick was born August 2, 1927, in Brooklyn, NY, the son of Fannie and Herman Chovnick. He is survived by his wife, Elinor, of 62 years; his daughter, Lisa of Princeton, NJ, and her husband, Herbert Bibbero; his son, Benjamin, of Willimantic, CT and his wife, Florence Caillard; his brothers Stanley Chovnick and Arnold Channing and his wife Julie ; his sister, Lenora Weseley and her husband Martin; his grandchilden Anna, Adam, and Philip; and many nieces, nephews, friends and colleagues. Memorial donations may be made to the Arthur Chovnick Graduate Fellowship in Genetics at the University of Connecticut. Please make checks payable to: The UConn Foundation noting "Chovnick Fellowship" on the memo line. Send to: UConn Foundation, 2390 Alumni Drive, Unit 3206, Storrs, CT 06269-2410. For an online memorial guestbook, please visit www.potterfuneralhome.com .