George M. Martin: tribute and personal remembrance

Son of a New York City policeman, George moved west early. By age 19, after a stint in the US navy, he was working on the railroad and playing trumpet in a jazz band in Alaska. His love of music, particularly jazz, never left him. Neither did his love of experiencing new places, both geographically and scientifically. Geographically, after receiving his B.S. in Chemistry (1949) and M.D. (1952) both from the University of Washington, he interned at the Montreal General Hospital and did his residency at the University of Chicago, before returning to Seattle to begin his faculty career in 1957 in the University of Washington’s Department of Pathology, his home base for the rest of his life. His quest for expanding his research skills and knowledge took him to Glasgow University on a US Public Health Service Research Fellowship, to Paris on an Eleanor Roosevelt Cancer Fellowship, to Oxford with a Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation Faculty Scholar Award, to field research in India, and to Würzburg, Germany, as a Humboldt Foundation Distinguished Scientist, among other places. Intellectually, he was a pioneer as well as foundational and continuing contributor to somatic cell genetics and aging, the genetics of Alzheimer’s disease, and what he called a “segmental progeria,” Werner’s syndrome. He also embraced an evolutionary perspective on aging processes before it permeated the field, which is one of many places where our interests converged. Having the good fortune to spend a sabbatical in his laboratory in 2000–2001, as many of our regular conversations in his office were about evolutionary biology as those focused on genetics, cell biology, or the bird aging project we were working on together.

George held a range of leadership positions and was awarded many honors. He was Founding Director of the Cytogenetics Laboratory, the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, and the Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of Washington. He served as President of the Gerontological Society of America and the Tissue Culture Society of America. He also served on the National Advisory Counsel, the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Institute on Aging, and on the Scientific Advisory Boards of the Ellison Medical Foundation (as Board Chair from 2008 to 2012) and Glenn Foundation for Medical Research. He was also Scientific Director of the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR) for a decade. His honors include the Fondation IPSEN Longevity prize, the Gerontological Society of America’s Brookdale and Kleemeier awards, AFAR’s Irving S. Wright award, the American Aging Association’s Research Medal and Distinguished Scientist Award, the Pruzanski Award of the American College of Medical Genetics, and a World Alzheimer Congress Lifetime Achievement Award. He was also an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of the US National Academy of Science (now the National Academy of Medicine).

This list of honors and accomplishments does not begin to capture the person or the impact of George Martin though. I first met, or maybe I should say “experienced,” George in 1991 at an aging training course in San Pietro, Italy, where after 5 days of listening to him lecture, and ask questions of the other lecturers, he was so knowledgeable on every topic covered that I had no idea what his primary research field was. He seemed to know, and had thought deeply about, everything. It was fitting that I should meet him at a training course, because mentorship and the training of multiple generations of researchers from every part of the world are among the highest of George’s achievements. He was encouraging, gracious with praise, always eager to promote his students and collaborators, never seeking credit for himself. Collaboration was a large part of his love of science. He once told me how discouraging it was to him to see the hyper-competitiveness and glory-seeking that had infected Alzheimer’s disease research.

No account of his life would be complete without mentioning George’s beloved wife, Julie, to whom he was married for 52 years until her death in 2005. As broad in thought and interests as her husband, Julie had degrees in chemistry and art history, was a woodcarver, and managed several Seattle art galleries at various times. She and George often traveled to international scientific conferences together, where you were likely to find them at night, walking through town hand-in-hand. The parties they hosted for hundreds of graduate and medical students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty, and visiting scientists over the decades were unforgettable. As a relatively frequent guest at their home, I loved to watch as Julie, seemingly without effort, organized and prepared everything for these events. Once the party began, she mixed easily, putting guests from any country, any discipline, or any age immediately at ease. Also as a relatively frequent guest, I was amazed at how many other relatively frequent guests stayed at their home. Hotel Martin always had the welcome mat out.

George never lost his enthusiasm for science or for life. Upon retiring in 2002, he remained active as a Professor Emeritus in the same department where he had spent his career, continuing to apply for (and receive) grants, write papers, and travel to conferences and speaking appearances. He also maintained his mischievous sense of humor. Many of us heard him say half-facetiously that his goal in life was to die funded, something that, in fact, he did. I once asked him to name someone who he considered a paragon of successful aging. Without missing a beat, he said “Guido Pontecorvo, my Glasgow mentor, died of a fall while hiking in the Alps [a small chuckle here]…at age 91.” If someone asked me the same question, I wouldn’t miss a beat either. “George Martin, 95 years of working, learning, teaching, living, loving, enjoying himself and others the whole time.”

George Martin was predeceased by wife Julie and son Thomas. He is survived by sons Peter and Andrew, daughter Kelsey, and grandchildren Benjamin, Maya, “T.J.,”, Samuel, and Seth. Remembrances may be sent to the George Martin Scholarship Fund at Physicians for a National Health Care Plan (https://pnhpwashington.org/) and messages to the family at kelseycmartin@gmail.com.