Bertram Fraser-Reid

Bertram Oliver Fraser-Reid

Pittsboro

It is with heavy but proud hearts that the family shares with you that Bertram Oliver Fraser-Reid, our beloved father, husband, and grandfather, died the morning of May 25, 2020. His family was with him on his final journey as he passed peacefully from natural causes at the age of 86.

"Bert" was born and raised in Christiana, Jamaica. He moved to Canada in 1956 where he completed his BSc degree at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and where he met Lillian Lawrynuik, who would become his wife. After completing his MSc at Queen's with noted carbohydrate chemist J.K.N. Jones, he went on to earn a Ph.D. at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada under the tutelage of Ray Lemieux, arguably the "Grandfather" of carbohydrate chemistry. He then moved to London for a post doc with Sir Derek Barton at Imperial College. His first faculty position was at the University of Waterloo in Ontario where he remained until 1980. Dr. Fraser-Reid moved to the United States when he joined the faculty at the University of Maryland, College Park. He then joined the Department of Chemistry at Duke University in Durham, NC, where he was awarded the James B. Duke Professor of Chemistry distinction in 1985. He remained at Duke until his retirement in 1996 and subsequently established the non-profit Natural Products and Glycotechnology ("NPG") Research Institute, Inc., dedicated to the development of carbohydrate-based therapeutics and vaccines for tropical/third world diseases.

Dr. Fraser-Reid 's research career is replete with innovative and novel concept discoveries in carbohydrate organic and physical organic chemistry. Some of his more notable achievements were the use of carbohydrates as chiral synthons to prepare non-carbohydrate type natural products, such as insect pheromones and antibiotics; development of the "armed-disarmed" concept in glycosylation chemistry; the development of O-pentenyl glycosides as versatile glycosyl donors which contributed to the concept of reactivity tuning in oligosaccharide synthesis and the use of free radical methodologies to form carbocycles from carbohydrate-based templates. His work at NPG concentrated on carbohydrate-based vaccines against malaria. During these studies, his group completed the synthesis of some of the largest oligosaccharides that had been synthesized to date without the use of automated methods.

His many research breakthroughs earned him worldwide distinction as one of the greatest-ever carbohydrate organic and physical organic chemistry researchers. Among the many recognitions were the 1977 Merck, Sharp & Dohme Award from the Chemical Institute of Canada; the Claude S. Hudson Award in carbohydrate chemistry from the American Chemical Society in 1989; recognition as the Senior Distinguished U.S. Scientist by Germany's Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in 1990; the Percy Julian Award from the National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers in 1991; North Carolina Chemist of the Year by the American Institute of Chemistry in 1995; and The Council of the Institute of Jamaica's Gold Musgrave Medal for 2007 for distinguished eminence in the field of chemistry. Dr. Fraser-Reid was also passionately committed to the cause of advancing the representation of persons of color in the physical sciences. His professional legacy includes more than 330 papers and reviews and over 130 graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, many of whom are now leaders in their fields and remained dear friends long after their professional collaborations ended.

Dr. Fraser-Reid was a true renaissance man, as his passion for music rivaled his dedication to chemistry. He was an accomplished jazz and classical pianist and pipe organist, having played recitals at some of the world's most renowned cathedrals. He will be missed by his wife Lillian, children Andrea and Terry, daughter-in-law Carolyne, and grandchildren Katie, Matthew, and Samuel, extended family in Jamaica and Canada, and so many others whose lives he enriched.

Services will be planned following easement of restrictions.