JAMES WAYNE CAMPBELL

JAMES WAYNE CAMPBELL of Houston and Round Top, Texas, died September 3, 2010 in the Houston Hospice of complications due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He was 78 years old. Wayne was born March 2, 1932 to Mable Magdalene Kentling Campbell and Frank Pauline Campbell in Highlandville, Missouri. He graduated from Highlandville High School in the next-to-last class of 12 in 1950. He received the Bachelor of Science degree cum laude from Southwest Missouri State College (now Missouri State University) in 1953. In 1955, he received the Master of Science degree from the University of Illinois and in 1958, the Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Zoology from the University of Oklahoma. In 1958-59 he was a Post-doctoral fellow in Department of Pathobiology at Johns Hopkins University. In 1959, he came to Rice University where he spent the remainder of his career, first in the Department of Biology and later in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, until he retired in 2000.In 1973-74, he served as Program Director in the Division of Biological and Medical Sciences at the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C. In 1979-81 he served as Director of the Division of Physiology, Cellular and Molecular Biology at the National Science Foundation, also in Washington, D.C.He published dozens of papers, held several patents, contributed numerous chapters to academic works and edited several books. During his career, he received many honors including a U.S. Pubic Health Service Career Award in 1966-1970, was elected a Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1959, and in the American Institute of Chemists in 1969. He served as a consultant to NASA for the first lunar landing.He was proud of his numerous graduate students who earned advanced degrees under his mentorship and went on to remarkable careers as physicians and researchers.His parents are deceased as well as his brother Paul Campbell, who died in 2008. He is survived by his wife Deborah, his son James Kentling Campbell and daughter-in-law Mikala Beig and their children Harrison and Beryl, who live in Boulder, CO. He is also survived by his daughter Heather Campbell and her son Kevin Stallones of Houston, and Bonnalie Campbell, the mother of his children. Other living relatives include two nieces and their husbands Paula Kay and Dennis Firestone of Daphne, Alabama and Suzanne Elizabeth and Robert Israel of Springfield, MO. In addition, he is survived by two step-daughters Alissa Nelson and Holly Havlick, her husband Trey, and three step-grandchildren, Holden, Alex, and Amy Havlick, all of Houston.The family wishes to express gratitude to those who cared for him at the Houston Hospice and also to the staff at Meals on Wheels, who were very helpful in the last months of his life.Those who wish to make a donation in his name are encouraged to contribute to Houston Hospice, 1905 Holcombe Blvd., Houston, TX 77030-4123 or to Meals on Wheels at the Jewish Community Center, 5601 So. Braeswood Blvd, Houston, TX 77096.