Obituaries

Catherine Grenci Fabricant, the microbiology researcher whose 1970s animal-model studies in the College of Veterinary Medicine were among the first to link viruses with atherosclerotic heart disease, died Sept. 13 in the Reconstruction Home of Ithaca after a long illness. She was 81.

Acceptance by the research establishment of the viral hypothesis for human arterial disease was grudging, gradual but ultimately gratifying for Fabricant, who lived to see international symposia organized on the subject. And it all began with chickens.

"She was a real pioneer in the viral etiology for atherosclerosis. She discovered that a herpesvirus of chickens was the direct cause of atherosclerosis, and this stimulated similar studies in humans by a number of investigators," recalled Bruce W. Calnek, former chair of the Department of Avian and Aquatic Animal Medicine where Fabricant was a research associate and one of the world's leading experts on viral diseases of birds. "It was the kind of thing that -- had the work gone directly into humans -- wins Nobel Prizes. It was that major," said Calnek, the Steffen Professor Emeritus of Veterinary Medicine.

Fabricant's chicken experiments built on her discovery, as reported in the journal Science in 1973, that a previously undescribed herpesvirus caused urinary obstruction in cats. Moving to the chicken as an animal model in a Cornell department already distinguished for its work with avian diseases, Fabricant designed and carried out a simple but persuasive series of experiments:

But not everyone was persuaded, at a time when cholesterol was coming into favor as the principal and purportedly sole cause of atherosclerosis. "People like to focus on what's fashionable in research," Fabricant said 25 years later. "And people with little or no knowledge of virology did not want to give up pet theories, especially not to a woman!"

Fabricant, who had "only a master's degree," continued her research and eventually showed that chickens could be immunized against the virus to prevent arterial lesions as well as tumors.

The scientist without a Ph.D. or faculty rank worked under the aegis -- but certainly not in the shadow -- of her husband of more than 50 years Julius Fabricant, professor of avian medicine emeritus, who survives her. Born in Davoli, Italy, on Sept. 24, 1919, she emigrated at 15 months with her parents to Rochester, N.Y. She attended the College of Agriculture at Cornell, where she published her first scientific paper as an undergraduate and earned bachelor's and master's degrees in bacteriology.

She joined the research staff of the agriculture college, conducting studies and publishing numerous papers on the bacteria and viruses associated with animal diseases, and for several years taught the class Pathogenic Bacteriology. Then Fabricant took a 10-year sabbatical to bear and raise two children, who also survive her -- Barbara Fabricant of New Albany, Ind., and Daniel Fabricant of Melrose, Mass. -- before returning to Cornell and the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Fabricant retired in 1986, three years after researchers at Baylor College of Medicine reported evidence of cytomegalovirus (a widespread member of the herpesvirus family called CMV) in the fatty plaques of human patients with diseased arteries. Subsequent research at other medical schools has implicated CMV in unhealthy thickening of the linings of carotid arteries and proved that restenosis (rethickening of previously clogged arteries) is five times more likely in patients with CMV.

"People never realized the power of CMV," Fabricant observed in a 1997 interview, and that's a shame, she said. Even chickens these days are the beneficiaries of an anti-herpes vaccine that is widely used in the poultry industry.

Robert A. Geyer, 53, director of administrative operations in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, died at home Aug. 6 after battling cancer for more than a year.

Department director Christopher Ober described his colleague as "a deeply thoughtful, determined and intelligent man, a loving husband and father. He was an important part of our department and the College of Engineering."

Geyer, born in 1947 in Pittsburgh, attended Cornell, graduating in 1970 and beginning a career at the university that spanned the next 30 years. He was appointed to his final position in the materials science department in 1990.

An avid traveler and outdoor enthusiast, Geyer also had interests ranging from classical music to home improvement. He devoted much of his adult life, however, to the study and experience of comparative religious and philosophic thought, and he was a founding member of Wisdom's Goldenrod Center for Philosophic Studies in Valois, N.Y.

He is survived by his wife of 13 years, Cynthia J. Gration; a daughter, Julie K. Geyer, 9; his father and two sisters.

A memorial service was held at Wisdom's Goldenrod Center Aug. 15..

Faculty members have decided to establish a gift for the Geyer family, possibly as a college tuition fund, Ober said: "To accomplish this, my wife, Pat, agreed to open a bank account on behalf of Bob Geyer's wife, Cindy, and daughter Julie."

Donations can be made by Oct. 20 directly to Vicki Conner, 214 Bard Hall, either in cash or by check made payable to "Patricia Ober in trust for Cindy Geyer." Said Ober, "In the near future we expect to be able to present the gift to Cindy, and at that time, we will hold a small presentation ceremony."