Rhea Myers Sumpter Jr.

1975 - 2019

Rhea Myers Sumpter, Jr., 44, passed away on June 12, 2019. He was born February 15, 1975 in Atlanta, Georgia to Rhea and Anne (Diveley) Sumpter. He grew up in Dunwoody, Georgia and attended Vanderlyn Elementary and Marist School. At Marist, he was student body president and voted Most Intelligent by his senior class. He was an avid cyclist and a competitive swimmer who, with his teammates, broke the school record in the 400m freestyle relay in 1993.

Rhea attended Rice University in Houston, where he met his wife, Kathy. At Rice, he was known as a brilliant, friendly, generous person who was just as likely to spend hours tutoring a classmate in organic chemistry as he was to join Baker 13 or the Rally Club. He received a BA (magna cum laude) in Biochemistry in 1997 and was granted the James B. Walker Award for Outstanding Senior in Biochemistry. Rhea was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship and spent the year after Rice graduation in Buenos Aires working in the laboratory of Dr. Tomás Santa Coloma. He spoke fluent Spanish and loved a good asado as much as a native Argentinian.

After returning to the U.S., Rhea entered the Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. It was during his medical school years that he married Kathryn Maria Noack on July 7, 2001 in Spring, Texas. He completed a Ph.D. in microbiology with Dr. Michael Gale focused on the role of the RNA helicase RIG-I in susceptibility to Hepatitis C infection, work that contributed to the development of a cure for Hepatitis C. He graduated from UT Southwestern with his M.D. and Ph.D. in 2006 and then began his residency in Internal Medicine followed by a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at UT Southwestern.

Upon completion of his medical training, Rhea began a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Beth Levine on the topic of cellular autophagy. Autophagy ("self eating") is the process by which eukaryotic cells break down damaged proteins and organelles in response to various forms of stress; the discovery of autophagy was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2016. During his postdoctoral fellowship, Rhea made two important contributions to the autophagy field. First, he developed a novel genome-wide screening platform to uncover dozens of new genes necessary for selective autophagy in human cells. Second, he identified the Fanconi anemia group C protein (FANCC) protein as a factor required for the clearance of viruses and damaged mitochondria. These discoveries were published in the scientific journals Nature and Cell with Rhea as first author. Because genetic mutation of FANC proteins causes developmental disabilities and certain types of cancer, Rhea's studies led to an improved understanding of the etiology of these diseases.

In 2017, Rhea joined the faculty in the Department of Immunology at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis. There, he established an independent research laboratory to continue his work on the role of selective autophagy in Fanconi anemia. He loved St. Jude and his colleagues there and spoke of his time in the lab as "recreation, not work". He was wholeheartedly committed to his role as a mentor to other members of his research group.

Rhea had a voracious mind and could speak knowledgeably on almost any subject. He read constantly and took great delight in forwarding articles and books he thought friends would enjoy. He will be remembered for his quick wit and ever-present sense of humor. He was a generous host and consummate entertainer who opened his home to others freely. He loved his family and was the proud father of Rhea, III and Andrew.

He is survived by his wife Kathy, sons Rhea Myers Sumpter, III and Andrew Richard Sumpter, parents Rhea and Anne Sumpter (Dunwoody, GA), brother Walter Sumpter and his wife Laura (Inman) Sumpter (Cumming, GA), along with many nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins, parents-in-law, and siblings-in-law.

A memorial service will be held at the FedEx Event Center at Shelby Farms Park on Friday, June 21st at 2:00PM. The family requests that you RSVP at https://bit.ly/2ZrxtX4 if attending.

Should friends desire, memorial contributions may be sent to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (stjude.org) or the Fanconi Anemia Research Fund (fanconi.org).