Raymond Rappaport

BAR HARBOR - Raymond Rappaport, 88, died Dec. 14, 2010. He was born in 1922, in North Bergen, N.J., the son of Raymond and Verna Karper Rappaport. Dr. Rappaport, who was known locally for his work with Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory and Wild Gardens of Acadia, had a distinguished career in biological science. Rappaport attended Bethany College in West Virginia and interrupted his studies to serve in World War II. Initially in the 5th Service Command, Anti-Aircraft, he later became part of the Army Medical Corps. Duties in the Medical Corps included hospital operations in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and logistical support for returning troops. He was responsible for delivering injured soldiers to hospitals near their homes and once said that if he had a change of underwear and a pack of cigarettes, he could go anywhere at a moment's notice. Rappaport finished his undergraduate work at Columbia University and after the war, enrolled in the graduate zoology program at the University of Michigan. Due to scheduling problems, he enrolled in a soil microbiology course to fulfill a distribution requirement and there met Barbara Nolan, who became his wife of 63 years. In 1948 he earned his master's degree from the University of Michigan, probably the only person to receive his master's degree the day before he received his Bachelor of Science degree from Bethany College. He earned his doctorate in 1952 from Yale University. Professor Rappaport taught biology at Union College, Schenectady, N.Y., for 37 years, and spent summers conducting research at MDIBL. His professional field was animal cell division and he wrote "Cytokenisis in Animal Cells," published by Cambridge University Press in 1996, along with more than 50 journal articles and several book chapters. His research work took his family to California, Hawaii, Japan and France. In January 2004, Professor Rappaport's work was recognized in the prestigious Journal of Experimental Zoology in the article "Ray Rappaport Chronology: Twenty five years of Seminal Papers on Cytokenisis," describing his work as so important that his strategies and ideas strongly influence current research on cell division. Professor Rappaport was a generous mentor to generations of Union College students and also to many Japanese scientists who wished to publish in English. Professor Rappaport was noted for his creative experimental techniques, designed to reveal the basic mechanisms of mammalian cell division. He devised many handcrafted surgical tools so that he could operate on single cells. One of his most effective was an extremely accurate cutting device fashioned from the hair saved from his son Peter's first hair cut. The Rappaports retired to Bar Harbor in 1989, and carried on year-round research at MDIBL. Rappaport began his affiliation with MDIBL in 1948, in the company of his new wife; that summer, Barbara conducted research and he washed dishes in the tissue culture laboratory. He then became a principle investigator at the laboratory for five decades. He held many administrative positions at MDIBL including director, trustee and president of the corporation. Complementing his creativity in the laboratory, Rappaport designed buildings, including cottages and the dining hall at the laboratory. Ray was also known for his love of plants and for the carefully researched castles he constructed for raffles at the annual book sale at Jesup Memorial Library. In addition to his wife, Barbara, Ray's family includes Peter and Terri Rappaport of Bar Harbor, Jean Rappaport and John Dargis of Bar Harbor and Ann Rappaport of Wayland, Mass., and Bar Harbor; grandchildren are Chloe Dargis, Stower Beals, Booth Dargis, Eliot Beals, Erin Owen and Cassie Dougher; and great-grandchildren are Liam Owen, Alec Owen, Jayden Dougher and Lena Dougher. A memorial concert is being planned for early summer. Donations in his memory may be made to Mount Desert Island YMCA, Jesup Memorial Library or MDIBL.