Esther Miriam Zimmer Lederberg

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Esther Miriam Zimmer Lederberg, Ph.D.

An accomplished twentieth century scientist and an exceptionally beautiful, loving, and ethical person died November 11 from complications of pneumonia and congestive heart failure. She was 83. Esther Zimmer was born in the Bronx, New York, on December 18, 1922. She obtained a AB at Hunter in 1942, then proceeded to study genetics at Stanford. She earned her MA at Stanford in 1946, she spent a summer at Hopkins Marine Station studying microbiology under Cornelius van Niel, then pursued her doctorate at the University of Wisconsin (1950). Esther also studied under George Beadle and Edward Tatum. Accomplishments include: US Public Health Service Fellowship; co-discovery of bacterial conjugation (1945); discovery of lysogenic bacteriophage lambda-phage with transduction in E. coli K-12 (1951); development of replica plating (1952); first observation of F-factor (1953); Recipient, Pasteur Award Society of Illinois Bacteriologists (1956); Fullbright Fellow (Australia, 1957); member of a research team in which J Lederberg won the Nobel Prize in Microbiology (1958); American Cancer Society Sr. Dernham Fellow (1968-70); Director, Plasmid Reference Center (1976-86). Esther's interests included Early Music, and the literature of Dickens and Jane Austen.Esther was married to Joshua Lederberg in 1947, and they were divorced in 1966. Esther met Matthew Simon in 1989, the initial impetus being a common interest in Early Music. Esther and Matthew were married in 1993. She is survived by Mr. Simon (husband), Benjamin Zimmer (brother), relatives from the Geller and Zimmer families, and the Anderson family children.