WILLIAM DAVID HUSE

HUSE, WILLIAM DAVID March 25, 1954 to August 10, 2011 William D. (Bill) Huse, M.D., PhD., of Del Mar, California, age 57, lost his battle with lung cancer on August 10, 2011. The second of six children of Mary and Edgar Huse, Bill was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on March 25, 1954, and grew up in Newton, Massachusetts. He moved to San Diego in 1986. Bill was the founder and CEO of Advanced Molecular Design (AMD) in San Diego. Previously, he was the founder and CEO of Applied Molecular Evolution (AME), also of San Diego, which was subsequently acquired by Eli Lilly in 2004. The named inventor on 52 patents at the time of his death, he made significant contributions to the field of antibody engineering and in the development of pharmaceuticals to treat cancer and other illnesses. He conceived one of his most influential ideas in antibody engineering on a flight between San Diego and San Francisco, sketching it out on a napkin. This technology was subsequently published in Science in 1989, when he was a consultant to The Scripps Research Institute. Prior to joining Scripps, Bill was Vice President of Research and Development at Stratagene, Inc., a private biotechnology company in San Diego, from 1986 to 1989. Bill was an Assistant Professor at Yale University School of Medicine, Section of Molecular Neurobiology, from 1984 to 1986. He completed his post-doctoral work at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, after receiving his M.D. and Ph.D. in Neurosciences from the Albert Einstein School of Medicine. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a B.S. in Chemistry, Class of 1976. As part of his doctoral research, he spent summers at the Marine Biological Laboratory, sparking a life-long connection to Woods Hole, MA. Bill is survived by his daughters Megan and Julia, his mother Mary, brothers Thomas and Joseph, sisters Kathryn and Susan. Bill was previously married to Bernadette Anderson. He is predeceased by his father Edgar Huse and his sister Patricia McVeigh. Tricia and Bill shared their battles against cancer, supporting and comforting each other until her death from ovarian cancer in December, 2010. Bill inspired many people with his sense of humor and leadership. He enjoyed sailing, glass-blowing and pumpkin-picking with his daughters in the fall. He could often be found enjoying breakfast at the Pacifica Breeze Café in Del Mar. He will be greatly missed by his family, friends and colleagues in the San Diego area and Newton, MA. Visitation for Bill will be Saturday, August 13, 2011, at El Camino Memorial, 5600 Carroll Canyon Road, San Diego, CA 92121, from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. A memorial service to celebrate his life will be held Sunday, August 14, 2011, at 2:00 p.m., at the same location. If desired, memorial contributions may be made to the Tricia McVeigh Memorial Fund, c/o James Taffel, co-principal, Barre City Middle and Elementary School, 50 Parkview Terrace, Barre, Vermont, 05641. This fund was benefits disadvantaged students in the school district where Tricia worked as a clinical psychologist for many years. Please visit the El Camino Memorial webpage at www.SorrentoValleyChapel.com/obituaries.html.