Dean Danner

Family-Placed Death Notice

Dean Jay Danner was born September 26, 1941 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Julius Alexis Danner and Evalyn Pautz Danner. He died at his home in Decatur on January 2, 2007 after an eighteen-month battle with brain cancer. Dean attended Washington High School In Milwaukee and went on to undergraduate studies at Lakeland College in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. He received his Ph.D in Biochemistry from the University of North Dakota in 1967 and following a post-doctoral stint at St. Jude's Children's hospital in Memphis moved on to a faculty position at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana.In 1973, he joined the faculty of Emory University, as a research scientist in the new field of genetics. His interest in genetics centered on the study of a devastating metabolic disease termed Maple Syrup Urine Disease, or MSUD. Dean maintained an active research program, and over the course of his career he studied the protein complex that is defective in persons with MSUD, and the genes that encode them, publishing his data in highly regarded scientific journals including a publication in the premiere journal, Nature. As the result of Dean's work, we now have a nearly complete understanding of one of the critical metabolic processes that our bodies must perform every second to maintain a healthy state. Dean was regarded as a leading world authority on MSUD and the related aspects of protein metabolism. In addition to his lab research, Dean also took time to work with the families of children affected by MSUD, answering questions, and explaining the findings of his research. Beyond the contributions Dean made to the field of genetic research, he was also dedicated to training future, and now currently practicing, scientists and clinicians. Many students received Ph.D.s under his direct supervision, and he served on the committees of dozens more. In the later years of his tenure at Emory he also took on the additional challenges of administrative leadership, serving as acting chair of the Genetics and Biochemistry departments. However, Dean's love of teaching and of science kept him in the laboratory until the last months of his life. Outside the lab, Dean enjoyed playing squash and racquetball with friends and other faculty and staff. He was an avid woodworker, making much of the furniture in the house he shared with his wife, Susan. Dean was a wonderful cook and baker, as well. A loving and dedicated husband, father and grandfather, Dean is survived by his wife, son and grandson, Mark and Jaxon Danner of Las Vegas, daughter and son-in-law, Kirstin and Eric Batchelor of Tacoma, Washington, and sister and brother-in-law, Diane and Ralph Mueller of Marshfield, Wisconsin. A memorial service to celebrate his life will be held Sunday, January 7, at 3:30 pm in Canon Chapel on the Emory University campus. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Emory University School of Medicine, Genetics Department at 1440 Clifton Road, Suite 112, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, or to Lakeland College at PO Box 359, Sheboygan, Wisconsin 53082-0359. The body was donated to Emory.