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Francis Hall Martin
Newbury Park, CA
Frank was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on November 13, 1942 to Edna Hall and Bruce Whittington Martin. He passed away on December 7, 2017 in Thousand Oaks, California, surrounded by his wife Tina Weeks Martin and their three children: Kenneth Hall (Ken), Amy Christine (Juniper) and David Francis (Dave). He is survived by his six siblings: Janet Martin, Robert Martin, Kay Shelton, Jim Martin, Louise Martin, and Nancy Martin.
Frank's family moved often during his formative years. He adapted to the frequent moves by excelling at baseball, football and basketball. His family also strongly emphasized academics, at which Frank also excelled. Forgoing opportunities to play football at Ohio or Michigan, he instead chose to attend Harvard College in 1960, where he later graduated Summa Cum Laude with BAs in Physics and Chemistry. He went on to earn his Phd. in Biophysics in 1968 from Harvard University.
Frank dedicated the next seven years to teaching at Miles College, a historically African American institution in Birmingham, Alabama, and subsequently Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. His dedication to civil rights and issues of educational equality was inspiring to many.
Frank and Tina were married in September 1974, after which Frank accepted post-doctoral research positions at UC Berkeley and University of Colorado, Boulder.
With the expertise gained through this groundbreaking research in early cloning techniques in nucleic acid chemistry, he became one of Amgen's first research scientists in 1981. Frank, along with dedicated colleagues, laid the groundwork for many of the therapeutic products that launched Amgen as a successful biotech company.
Frank retired in 2007 after 26 years with the company. At the time he was the longest tenured of Amgen's 15,000 employees. He spent the next ten years enjoying many of his passions, including traveling, sports, birding and music. Whatever he pursued he was always enthusiastic, curious, and kind.
For those who wish to offer condolences, in lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Frank's honor to Mongabay.org, which is an environmental conservation non-profit where his son David works, and that was one of Frank's favorite charitable organizations.
A Celebration of Life service will be held at St. Matthews United Methodist Church on 1360 S. Wendy Dr., Newbury Park, 91320, at 2 PM on Saturday Jan. 13, 2018.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
4 Entries
Frank hired me at Amgen in December 1981. It was my 1st real job post graduate school. He was a brilliant, driven scientist who paved the way in nucleotide chemistry.
Michael Tallen
October 23, 2018
This is such sad news as I have long wished to connect again with Frank, but somehow never managed to find him. I was Frank's roommate, along with Michael Crichton, for much of our years at college. We was such a wonderful big gentle soul, a real model student and friend. I missed being unable to find him, and now (sitting in a hotel in Frankfurt, Germany) painfully accept the fact that I will never see him again. Let me assure his family, however, that I will never forget him.
Joseph
January 17, 2018
Hi Tina. I met you at TarrazAngelz last week. I'm so sorry to read about Frank's passing. I read the article regarding his work and loves. He sounds like a wonderful, loving human being. I'm so sorry for your loss. Anne
January 11, 2018
Frank changed my life when he offered me the chance to work in his lab with Rick Jacobsen as a "teacher-intern" in a program set up by Bruce Wallace to expand science education in our local schools. He was generous and patient in so many ways and creative in the experiences he coached me through, and the insights he provided about how drugs are developed and teamwork and coordination smooth the path.
My condolences to Tina, Ken, Amy, and David. Your dad was a teacher in the deepest sense, and a wonderful, insightful, caring person to know. I will miss him always.
Hugh Nelson
January 9, 2018
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