Dr. David S. Papermaster

Dr. David S. Papermaster of Bloomfield, passed away on Saturday, October 12, 2024. He was 86 years old and lived a long and wonderful life. He was a true Midwesterner – nice to everyone and always positive. He was the son of Dr. Aaron Papermaster and Celia (nee Solomon) Papermaster. He was born in Fargo, North Dakota and grew up there with his parents and older brother Ben. His grandfather, Rabbi Benjamin Papermaster, was the first Rabbi of all of North Dakota. David spent his career as a medical school professor and was a world renown scientist.
To his family, he was the smartest person they ever met. His breadth and depth of knowledge was incredible. His grandchildren called him "Encyclopedia Dave". He attended Harvard University, graduating in 1959 with honors while majoring in medieval renaissance history and then graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1963. He continued his post-graduate training at Caltech under the tutelage of Nobel Prize Winner Max Delbrück and then became a professor at Yale Medical School under the mentorship of Nobel Prize Winner George Palade. After a long tenure at Yale, he became the Chairman of the Department of Pathology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and finished his career at the UConn Health Center as the John and Florence Mattern Solomon endowed Chair and Professor of Neuroscience. UConn was a fantastic career experience for him and it also allowed him and his wife Carole to be closer to family in Connecticut.
In 2001 he was the recipient of the Friedenwald Award for lifetime achievement in vision research. At the award ceremony, the presenter recognized that David was the "hardest working person I knew". Other colleagues in his field have described him as "the most astute and provocative intellect in the entire vision research community for decades."
David met his beloved wife Carole Kenler Papermaster in 1959 and they were married for just shy of 50 years until her passing. Carole passed away from ovarian cancer in 2010. David cared for her in every way possible and pushed science to its limits using his medical network to get her the latest and best care. His love for her knew no bounds. He also spent a number of wonderful years with Sandy Pinstein.
David was always active in the communities in which he lived, including serving as President of Ezra Day School in Woodbridge. He and his wife Carole endowed a professorship in the name of dear friend and fellow scientist Ron Zemel at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel where David did research and taught during his sabbatical year from Yale in 1976 and 1977. David leaves behind two children and four grandchildren: his son Daniel Papermaster of Hartford along with his wife Beth, and their children Nathan Papermaster and Molly Papermaster, and his daughter Ellen Papermaster Spark of Woodbridge and her two children Dylan Spark and Riley Spark.
A private graveside funeral will be held and the family will be sitting Shiva on Monday evening October 14th at 7:00 p.m. at the library at Goodwin Circle, 1280 Asylum, Avenue, Hartford. Donations in his memory may be made to Camp Laurelwood, 463 Summer Hill Road, Madison, CT 06443, where he once served on the board and as Camp Doctor.