The Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology mourns the passing of our friend and
colleague Martin Freundlich
Marty Freundlich, a long-time faculty member of the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology died March 20 at the age of 94. Marty was raised in Brooklyn, received his B.S. degree at Brooklyn College where he also began his scientific career publishing a paper in Nature on antimicrobial substances in plant seeds. He went on to obtain his Ph.D. in Microbiology at the University of Minnesota in the laboratory of Herman Lichstein. There, he studied the regulation of tryptophan metabolism in E. coli. He performed his postdoctoral work in H. Edwin Umbarger’s laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor where he began studies on the biosynthesis of the branched-chain amino acids isoleucine, leucine and valine. He continued working on the genetics and biochemistry of this pathway, in both Salmonella typhimurium and E. coli, for the rest of his career. After a successful postdoctoral period, he was hired as an Assistant Professor at Dartmouth University by Mel Simpson. In 1967, when Mel moved to Stony Brook to start the Department of Biochemistry, he recruited Marty to come with him. Marty remained in the department for his entire career, teaching biochemistry and molecular genetics to undergraduate, graduate, and medical students; serving as Chairman twice from 1974 to 1977 and from 1986 to 1989; and training many undergraduate and graduate students in his lab.
After Bill Lennarz’s arrival as chair in 1989, the department was renamed and expanded to Biochemistry and Cell Biology. Marty was a valued mentor to many of the junior faculty hired during this period. In particular, he served as the “teaching czar” coordinating all the teaching assignments within the department. He is fondly remembered for his wisdom, collegiality, and wit. Marty retired in 1999 but continued to live in Setauket with his wife, Ann Sutton. They enjoyed traveling and gardening and following his beloved NY Knicks. He is survived by Ann as well as three children and six grandchildren.
A gathering of family and friends will be held at Marty and Ann’s house, 50 Main St. East Setauket, on June 8 from 2:00-5:00pm.
Remembrances
Frank Sonnenberg
I had the privilege of working in Dr. Freundlich’s lab when I was a junior and senior at Stonybrook from 1974 to 1976. I worked directly with Geoff Childs who was a PhD candidate at the time. This time led to my honors thesis and to my first 2 scientific publications. Marty was a great mentor, and his lab was a friendly, collaborative place where it was fun and rewarding to work. Marty left me with one bit of wisdom that has always stayed with me. I asked him one day what he wanted his children to do when they grew up and he said, “Whatever they want to do!” That attitude seems obvious in retrospect, but it was new to me then and wasn’t true for a lot of young people of my generation. I thought of it often as my children (now adults) were growing up.
I’m very glad Marty was part of my education.
Ken Marcu
This is truly a sad day! Marty was one of my favorite Professors when I was a under-graduate and graduate student there (1968-1975) and was also one of my best colleagues when I myself became a Professor at Stony Brook in 1978 (I myself retired in 2016). My most sincere condolences to his family!
Frank Ross
Sorry about the loss of Professor Freundlich. I recall him giving us our undergraduate lectures in our introductory BCH class. Condolences to his family.
Brian Stevenson
Sorry to hear of Marty’s passing. My condolences to Ann and all of his family and friends. I learned a lot about mentoring from Marty and am always grateful for all that he taught.
Agnieszka Sirko
I was very sorry to learn that Marty had passed away. I worked in his lab from
1991 to 1994 and still remember those years well. During that time, I got to know
him as a warm, knowledgeable, and open-minded person.
I appreciated the opportunity to be part of his lab and to exchange ideas with him.
One thing I always remembered—beyond the science—was his kindness and
friendly attitude toward people. Whether it was a small gesture, like helping us
organize our stay when I was new to the city and country, or discussing the details
of an experiment, he had a way of showing care without making a show of it.
Those years made a lasting impression on me, and I’m still grateful for the
experience. Many will remember him for his character and the way he approached
his work and relationships.
My husband, Leszek, and I extend our deepest condolences to Ann, his children,
and grandchildren.
Erwin London
Marty was a great colleague, full of wisdom. His leadership during the period between the loss of Masayori Inouye as chair, and before the hiring of Bill Lennarz, was much appreciated, especially by a worried young assistant professor who was just coming up for tenure. I will never forget his razor sharp, quick wit.
Leo Pezzementi
I have many fond memories of Marty Freundlich, working just down the hall from his lab.
Larry Zwiebel
I was incredibly fortunate to begin my scientific career as an undergraduate researcher in Marty’s lab in the late 70s/early 80s at SUNY Stony Brook. It was an exciting time and a wonderful environment to explore bacterial genetics and the molecular biology surrounding the E.coli ilv operon. I was grateful to be welcomed into the Biochemistry department and enjoyed not only a wonderful scientific environment but also a robust community of friends and colleagues who played basketball, volleyball and enjoyed a good party. Both Marty and Ann Sutton (who was a graduate student in the lab at that time) were fantastic scientists and more importantly were both thoughtful mentors to the nascent and very impressionable research scientist that I was. Marty was especially generous with his time, his office (where I often studied for exams) and his sarcastic humor-it was a great way to learn about science and at the same time how to work in a lab. That I have remained in academic science for now more than 4 decades is a testament to the training /mentoring that I received from Marty and others in the Freundlich lab. I will always be thankful for Marty’s kindness, gentle (sometimes not so gentle) encouragement and willingness to provide mentoring and his special variety of wisdom. I only wish I had found my way back to Stony Brook to thank him personally.
Rest in Peace Marty.
A more expansive obituary for Marty:
https://www.fivesfuneralhome.com/obituaries/martin-freundlich/#!/Obituary