University Times

Paul Dowd, professor of chemistry, died of cancer Nov. 21, 1996, at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He was 60.

Dowd joined the Pitt chemistry faculty in 1970. He was named a full professor in 1977. He regularly taught undergraduate organic chemistry and honors organic chemistry. During his Pitt tenure, Dowd was adviser to 26 graduate students and 15 postdoctoral associates.

Prior to joining the Pitt faculty, he served in several capacities at Harvard University, including as an assistant professor, from 1967 to 1970.

He earned his A.B. from Harvard College in 1958, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1959 and 1962, respectively.

He was the recipient of numerous honors and awards including Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1987); the Chancellor's Distinguished Research Award (1993); the Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award of the American Organic Society (1994); Chairman of the Gordon Research Conference in Physical Organic Chemistry (1995); the Jeffrey Medal of New South Wales (1995), and the Arun Guthikonda Memorial Award of Columbia University (1996).

His research was centered in physical organic and mechanistic organic chemistry. In recent years, his seminal research on the mechanism of action of various vitamins, in particular vitamins K and E, gained worldwide recognition. Dowd and his associates delineated the mechanism of vitamin K-dependent carboxylation and recently discovered that a metabolite, vitamin E quinone, blocks the action of the carboxylase, an enzyme that controls blood clotting. This work suggests that vitamin E quinone may offer a safe alternative to slow-acting anticoagulants such as warfarin.

Dowd is survived by his wife, Susan Ramsmeyer Dowd; a daughter, Katherine Cramer of Minneapolis; a son, Michael Dowd of Pittsburgh; three sisters, Maryanne Deyst of Arlington, Mass., Nora Dahl of Cambridge, Mass., and Patricia Karwowski of Albany, Ga.; and three brothers, Joseph Dowd of Gettysburg, Dennis Dowd of Fairfield, Pa., and John Dowd of Vienna, Va.

The family requests that memorial contributions be made to the United Way.

A memorial service is planned for late January.