Volume 26 · Number 1 · Fall 2008
News & Notes
In Memoriam
Yuri Druzhnikov, a UC Davis Russian professor since 1989 and a leading ÈmigrÈ author who was blacklisted in his homeland until the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, died in May at his Davis home. He was 75. His novel Angels on the Head of a Pinópublished in New York after the manuscript was smuggled out of Russiaówas hailed by the University of Warsaw in 1999 as one of the 10 best Russian novels of the 20th century and was included on a UNESCO list of world-literature masterpieces. In 2001, Poland nominated him for the Nobel Prize in Literature. His other works include nonfiction books Informer 001 or the Myth of Pavlik Morozov and Prisoner of Russia: Alexander Pushkin and the Political Uses of Nationalism and novels Passport to Yestersday, Madonna from Russia and, published in Russian and Italian just a month before his death, The First Day of the Rest of My Life. He also portrayed a writer, Daniel, in the film Prisoner of Time, about Russian dissident intellectuals living in the U.S. after the end of the Cold War. More . . .
George "Skip" Gay, an associate professor of anesthesiology in 1989ñ2003, died in Febuary in Anchorage, Alaska, after a short illness. He was 77. Before joining the faculty, he pioneeered the treatment of drug abuse at San Franciscoís Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic and founded Rock Medicine with promoter Bill Graham to care for ailing concert-goers. For the last five years, he worked in Valdez, Alaska, where he was the only anesthesiologist wthin a 100-mile radius. More . . .
Robert Károly Sarlós, who taught theatre history in 1963–93 and helped preserve both historic plays and playhouses, died in August in Portland, Ore. He was 77. Professor Sarlós took a lead role in creating UC Davis’ dramatic arts doctoral program, which he directed for more than 20 years, helped Shields Library develop its performing arts holdings and directed seven productions, including a reconstuction of a 1634 masque The Triumph of Peace. He also was instrumental in the restoration of the historic Woodland Opera House. He contributed to 15 books and wrote more than 40 articles and reviews in scholarly journals. His book, Jig Cook and the Provincetown Players; Theatre in Ferment, was honored with the American Theatre Association's Barnard Hewitt Award for theatre history in 1983. More . . .
Robert Scibienski, a medical school faculty member in 1972ñ2002 known for his passion for teaching immunology courses and his sense of humor, died at his Woodland home in August. He was 64. His research focused on the chemistry of lysozymeóa bacteria-fighting enzyme found in egg whites, tears and salivaóas well as the immunology of breast cancer and the development of tumor-specific antibodies. More . . .
John Tucker, an oak expert who helped cultivate two world-class UC Davis plant collectionsóone living and the other pressed and driedódied in July in Davis from complications of a stroke. He was 92. Professor Tucker served for 39 years as director of the J.M. Tucker Herbarium, now part of the UC Davis Center for Plant Diversity herbarium, a collection of about 250,000 dried plant specimens. He also served as director of the UC Davis Arboretum for 12 years. In 1962, he established an oak grove near the western end of the arboretum. Today the arboretumís oaks have the greatest taxonomic diversity of any known collection. Dr. Tucker retired in 1986 but continued to give time and resources to the university. In 2001, he contributed $500,000 to support the growth and development of both the herbarium and arboretum. More . . .