Dr. John F. Brandts

1934 - 2025

Dr. John F. Brandts

Ogunquit, ME - Dr. John F. Brandts passed away peacefully on July 1, 2025, surrounded by loved ones. He was 91 years old.

He leaves behind his wife, Linda Hagan-Brandts, his five surviving children – Lilly Lasandra Salvia in Vermont; Melanie Murphy (husband – Bob) in California; Bob Brandts (wife – Patty) in Oregon; Deb Bettag (husband – Jochen) in Oregon; and Mike Brandts (wife – Kathy) in Massachusetts– his sister, Karla Brandts (wife – Kelly) in Ohio, his two step-children – James Witmer (wife-Erin) in Massachusetts and Shannon Ortiz (husband-Alex) in North Carolina - as well as countless grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his daughter, Cindy Brandts (2013), his father, Carl Brandts (1966), his mother AnnaLee (Fesker) Brandts (1958), and his brother, Dick Brandts (2024).

John was born in his home in Celina, Ohio on June 15, 1934 to his parents, Carl Brandts and AnnaLee (Fesker) Brandts. He was active in sports while growing up in Ohio (baseball, basketball, and football), and was always a stellar student, earning many scholastic honors throughout his academic career, as he received degrees from Miami/Ohio University (BS and MS), the University of Minnesota (PhD), and Princeton University (PhD post-doc). He married Susan Humphries in 1953 and together they raised six children, as they moved from Ohio, to Minnesota, to New Jersey, and finally to Amherst, Massachusetts, where John worked as a Professor in Organic Chemistry at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst, from 1962 until his retirement from the university in 1990. He married his current wife, Linda Hagan-Brandts, on July 1, 1995, 30 years to the day before his death, and they both moved to their dream home in Ogunquit, Maine in 2000.

Following his retirement from UMass, he continued to work at the company he had founded in 1977 - MicroCal, Inc. – as he built it from the ground up, starting it in his basement, and ultimately growing it into a business that developed, built, and sold its patented scanning calorimeters to universities and businesses across the globe. Dr. Brandts was known worldwide for his research in physical biochemistry and was in high demand as a guest lecturer at many prestigious universities, both domestically and abroad. It was his seminal research paper from 1964 that inspired him to build his first calorimeter. He could not prove his 2-state protein theory to be true with the current (spectroscopic) methods and needed to measure the thermodynamics of protein unfolding directly to prove his theory was correct. He had more skeptics than supporters, including some of his past mentors/advisors and the prevailing wisdom at the time was in sharp disagreement to Dr. Brandts's theory. Ultimately, the instrument he invented proved his theory to be true and his instruments became the new standard in biochemical research and drug discovery. His 2-state theory of proteins became, and remains, a fundamental cornerstone for past, current and future protein researchers and drug developers. His company has sold more than any other brand and is still looked upon as the original in the field, and is often referred to as "the gold standard" of microcalorimeters. MicroCal customers include Harvard, NIH, Johns Hopkins, Pfizer, Moderna and many other acclaimed academic and pharmaceutical institutions. John's microcalorimeter was a critical part of the development of many drugs and vaccines, including the COVID vaccines, and in 1999 he was awarded the prestigious Huffman Memorial Award in recognition of his many valuable contributions to the fields of thermochemistry and thermodynamics. A second company – MicroCal Software – was formed in 1992 and was renamed OriginLab Corporation in 2000. He eventually retired from both businesses for good in 2004.

In retirement, John found a lot of enjoyment in fishing, reading, meditating, boating, spending time with his many children and grandchildren, taking walks on the beaches of Ogunquit, and watching his beloved Red Sox, Celtics, and Patriots. He was a very kind, thoughtful, and gentle man, with a sharp, dry sense of humor that became his trademark. It was rare that laughter wasn't a part of any visit with John. He was also one of the most generous people you could ever meet, as he was always willing to extend a helping hand to anyone who needed it. He had a positive impact on countless lives over the course of his 91 years of life and he will be missed greatly by all who knew him.

Donations may be made to your local food bank in his honor, in lieu of sending flowers.