PAUL SCHEUER / 1915-2003
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII COURTESY PHOTO
UH alumnus Robin Kinnel presented Paul Scheuer with a photo album in 2001 as Joyce Tsunoda, a former student of his, looked on.
Students and colleagues called former University of Hawaii professor Paul Scheuer the father of marine natural product chemistry. UH researcher pioneered
PUC official Yukio Naito
marine natural products
More obituariesBy Rosemarie Bernardo
rbernardo@starbulletin.com"He had the vision to start a first-class research program and to carry it through, setting the pace for every faculty member in the department for half a century," said Chemistry Department Chairman Karl Seff.
Scheuer, 87, marine chemistry professor, died of leukemia at his Manoa home Sunday.
For 53 years, Scheuer worked at the UH. In 1983, Scheuer officially retired from the chemistry department but continued to work tirelessly on his research.
"He loved to get up and go to work until his dying days," said Scheuer's son, Jonathan.
He described his father as a brilliant man. His study was based on the molecular structure of coral reef organisms, isolating and testing toxins and compounds to determine whether they can serve as a treatment for cancer.
"All this has been a search for anti-cancer drugs. That has been the ongoing theme of all his work," Seff said.
Scheuer was honored as the father of marine natural products at the 2000 International Chemical Congress of the Pacific Basin Societies.
Over the years, he wrote nearly 300 scientific publications. In 1973, he published the first monograph on marine natural products. Since 1965, he gave more than 200 lectures at conferences, universities and research laboratories.
Scheuer left a long-lasting impression on his students.
Dr. Livingston Wong, one of Scheuer's former students and founder of the St. Francis Medical Center's Transplant Institute, said, "He influenced my life tremendously."
"He was like a father to me," Wong said.
Anthony Marsella, psychology professor at UH, said Scheuer was "one of our most eminent professors."
Colleagues further described Scheuer as a humble and sincere person who "always cared for his students."
"People came (from) around the world to work with him and learn from him," Marsella said. "He was a very selfless person."
In 1972, Scheuer received the UH Regents' Award for Excellence in Research. He also received awards from the American Society of Pharmacognosy and the American Chemical Society.
In 1992, Scheuer's former students initiated the Paul J. Scheuer Award in Marine Natural Products Research and selected him as the first recipient.
Scheuer's role as an academic influenced some of his children to follow in his footsteps. Jonathan Scheuer obtained a doctorate degree in environmental studies from the University of California, while his sister, Deborah, received her doctorate degree in physiology from University of California at San Francisco.
His wife, Alice, also obtained a doctorate degree, in psychology at UH.
Scheuer was born on May 25, 1915, in Heilbronn, Germany. After he was denied university admission during Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Scheuer became a tannery apprentice.
In 1938, Scheuer emigrated to New York on the Queen Mary. When he arrived, he supported himself by sorting and packaging calf and sheep leather.
He earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry at Northeastern University. He received his doctorate degree at Harvard.
Scheuer is survived by his wife Alice; two sons, David and Jonathan; two daughters, Elizabeth Carlson and Deborah Scheuer; sister Ruth Rosenstack; daughter-in-law, Cami Kloster; son-in-law Tim Carlson; and grandson Joshua.
Services will be held at 2 p.m. Jan. 26 at St. Andrew's Cathedral. The family requests aloha attire and no flowers. A private service will be held for the scattering of ashes.
