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Walter Stumpf Obituary
Walter Erich Stumpf
Chapel Hill
Walter Erich Stumpf passed away amidst immediate family members on November 13, 2012 at the age of eighty-five.
Walter Stumpf was born in 1927 in the town of Oelsnitz in the eastern part of Germany. There he spent his early years with his grandfather, a master carpet weaver, and his mother, a respected and beloved midwife. Showing potential as a student and youth leader in his pre-teen years, young Walter was tapped for a government scholarship to study at the reputable Freiherr von Fletcher Schule, a boarding school in Dresden. Those cherished, formative years were interrupted by World War II, starting with heavily reduced, off-site instruction as students were called to anti-aircraft duty. In December 1944, at the age of 17, he became a paratrooper and was sent to the field. He had barely reached the Front when he was captured by the British and placed in a prisoner of war camp in Belgium, under very difficult conditions, but still a better fate than his many classmates who never made it back. Released a year later, he returned home just in time for Christmas to the surprise of his relieved mother.
Under Russian occupation, Walter Stumpf managed to finish high school and start medical studies at the University of Leipzig (1946). Academically, culturally and socially, this was a good time despite all the difficulties and deprivations. In 1950, he continued his studies in Berlin. His medical degree at the Humboldt Universitaet (1952) came with a distinctive summa cum laude, although it brought little opportunity as long as he resisted the political imperatives of joining the right clubs and party. As a medical resident in the Charité Hospital's Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, the Berlin Institute for Psychotherapy, and other hospitals (1952-57), Walter Stumpf benefitted from wide ranging exposure to various medical cases and specialists. After completing his specialization in neurology and psychiatry (1957), Walter was expected to join a hospital in East Germany, but instead succeeded in obtaining permission – still possible before the Berlin Wall – to move to West Germany. There he found a position at the University of Marburg in the Department of Neurology and Psychiatry (1958-61) and then added the University Strahleninstitut, where he worked in radiobiology and nuclear medicine (1961-62). Research limitations subsequently led him to a sabbatical year, sponsored by the German Research Foundation, at the University of Chicago in the Department of Pharmacology (1963-64).
One year in the United States became many, and his earlier efforts in Germany to localize drugs in the brain through autoradiography led to extensive research and ultimate success in Chicago. There Walter Stumpf built his research endeavor from scratch and solved a litany of problems across years of tedious trial and error. He developed a pioneering method for studying tissue-specific localization of diffusible drugs, which he called receptor microscopic autoradiography. Walter Stumpf's work was a prerequisite for understanding tissue-specific functions of steroid hormones, such as estradiol, testosterone, the corticosteroids, thyroid hormone and vitamin D, and contributed invaluable basic knowledge for medicine, cancer research, drug development and risk assessment at a time when the term "molecular biology" was still inits infancy.
After a series of breakthroughs and publications, in addition to a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Chicago in 1967, Walter accepted a position in 1970 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He became Professor of Cell Biology and Pharmacology, and was a member of the Laboratories for Reproductive Biology and Neurobiology, with appointments in the Departments of Anatomy and of Pharmacology. Thus began a productive time of more than two decades in the laboratory characterized by new discoveries, many revealing multiple targets in the body for particular drugs and hormones, and leading to new concepts, many of which were ahead of his time. He was extraordinarily prolific and published more than 550 articles (over 300 on Medline).
His work was recognized in 1987 with an honorary degree, Dr.rer.biol.hum.h.c.,from the University of Ulm in Germany. In 1992, he followed his heart to Japan and spent three years with Chugai Pharmaceutical Company in Tokyo on the study of vitamin D analogues. In his fondness for Japan and deep understanding of Japanese culture, these years belonged to the happiest of his life. From 2001 to 2003, Walter worked as a research professor at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil for the study of estrogen receptors in the uterus during implantation and early pregnancy. During this time he also wrote "Drug Localization in Tissues and Cells: Receptor Microscopic Autoradiography," a "how-to" book for practitioners.
Receptor microscopic autoradiography provided an array of information that would have been impossible or difficult to obtain otherwise. Walter's work on vitamin D, in particular, led to a significant paradigm shift. After a century of science that linked vitamin D only to bone-related calcium regulation at five classical sites, Walter used his receptor microscopic autoradiography to identify and characterize vitamin D in more than 50 target tissues in the body. His seminal 1979 report of vitamin D nuclear receptor distribution in the central nervous system (brain, spinal cord, pituitary) and the many discoveries of vitamin D target tissues that followed challenged the then-current calcitropic view of vitamin D and were initially rejected by the scientific community. Decades later, Walter Stumpf's extensively published receptor microscopic autoradiography data and groundbreaking discoveries are now reflected in scientific acceptance of vitamin D's central place in endocrinology and in prophylactic and therapeutic medicine.
Walter Stumpf took microscopic data of target actions at a cell biological level and linked it to our ultimate cosmic presence, the sun. He showed that vitamin D is not a vitamin, but a hormone, one he renamed "soltriol," that acts at sites all over the body, and pointed to its main biological function of maintaining life and adapting vital functions to the solar environment. Walter Stumpf has been credited with laying the groundwork for the vitamin D era.
Walter Stumpf is survived by his wife of 51 years, Ursula Stumpf; and three daughters, Andrea Stumpf, Carolin Lloyd, with husband Robert Lloyd, and Silva Stumpf; and five grandchildren, Walter, Lyndon, Emily, Luke and Maxie. He is also survived by family in Germany.
He was preceded in death by his beloved son Martin.
A man of humility, Walter Stumpf pursued lifelong learning, had great sensitivity for and understanding of other cultures and languages, and at the same time dearly loved his home country. In his last years, he took memorable trips to Germany and Austria with the whole family, introducing even his grandchildren to the beauty of landscape, the joy of hiking, the pleasure of language and literature, and the value of culture and traditions.
All friends and family are welcome to celebrate Walter Stumpf's life at his home on Sunday, December 2 between 2 and 5 pm, with some spoken words at 3.
In recognition and appreciation of his love of nature, and his work on the land for ongoing enjoyment, those wishing to make a contribution in Walter Stumpf's memory may consider a gift to the Conservation Fund of the North Carolina Botanical Garden at [email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email 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Chapel Hill
Walter Erich Stumpf passed away amidst immediate family members on November 13, 2012 at the age of eighty-five.
Walter Stumpf was born in 1927 in the town of Oelsnitz in the eastern part of Germany. There he spent his early years with his grandfather, a master carpet weaver, and his mother, a respected and beloved midwife. Showing potential as a student and youth leader in his pre-teen years, young Walter was tapped for a government scholarship to study at the reputable Freiherr von Fletcher Schule, a boarding school in Dresden. Those cherished, formative years were interrupted by World War II, starting with heavily reduced, off-site instruction as students were called to anti-aircraft duty. In December 1944, at the age of 17, he became a paratrooper and was sent to the field. He had barely reached the Front when he was captured by the British and placed in a prisoner of war camp in Belgium, under very difficult conditions, but still a better fate than his many classmates who never made it back. Released a year later, he returned home just in time for Christmas to the surprise of his relieved mother.
Under Russian occupation, Walter Stumpf managed to finish high school and start medical studies at the University of Leipzig (1946). Academically, culturally and socially, this was a good time despite all the difficulties and deprivations. In 1950, he continued his studies in Berlin. His medical degree at the Humboldt Universitaet (1952) came with a distinctive summa cum laude, although it brought little opportunity as long as he resisted the political imperatives of joining the right clubs and party. As a medical resident in the Charité Hospital's Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, the Berlin Institute for Psychotherapy, and other hospitals (1952-57), Walter Stumpf benefitted from wide ranging exposure to various medical cases and specialists. After completing his specialization in neurology and psychiatry (1957), Walter was expected to join a hospital in East Germany, but instead succeeded in obtaining permission – still possible before the Berlin Wall – to move to West Germany. There he found a position at the University of Marburg in the Department of Neurology and Psychiatry (1958-61) and then added the University Strahleninstitut, where he worked in radiobiology and nuclear medicine (1961-62). Research limitations subsequently led him to a sabbatical year, sponsored by the German Research Foundation, at the University of Chicago in the Department of Pharmacology (1963-64).
One year in the United States became many, and his earlier efforts in Germany to localize drugs in the brain through autoradiography led to extensive research and ultimate success in Chicago. There Walter Stumpf built his research endeavor from scratch and solved a litany of problems across years of tedious trial and error. He developed a pioneering method for studying tissue-specific localization of diffusible drugs, which he called receptor microscopic autoradiography. Walter Stumpf's work was a prerequisite for understanding tissue-specific functions of steroid hormones, such as estradiol, testosterone, the corticosteroids, thyroid hormone and vitamin D, and contributed invaluable basic knowledge for medicine, cancer research, drug development and risk assessment at a time when the term "molecular biology" was still inits infancy.
After a series of breakthroughs and publications, in addition to a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Chicago in 1967, Walter accepted a position in 1970 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He became Professor of Cell Biology and Pharmacology, and was a member of the Laboratories for Reproductive Biology and Neurobiology, with appointments in the Departments of Anatomy and of Pharmacology. Thus began a productive time of more than two decades in the laboratory characterized by new discoveries, many revealing multiple targets in the body for particular drugs and hormones, and leading to new concepts, many of which were ahead of his time. He was extraordinarily prolific and published more than 550 articles (over 300 on Medline).
His work was recognized in 1987 with an honorary degree, Dr.rer.biol.hum.h.c.,from the University of Ulm in Germany. In 1992, he followed his heart to Japan and spent three years with Chugai Pharmaceutical Company in Tokyo on the study of vitamin D analogues. In his fondness for Japan and deep understanding of Japanese culture, these years belonged to the happiest of his life. From 2001 to 2003, Walter worked as a research professor at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil for the study of estrogen receptors in the uterus during implantation and early pregnancy. During this time he also wrote "Drug Localization in Tissues and Cells: Receptor Microscopic Autoradiography," a "how-to" book for practitioners.
Receptor microscopic autoradiography provided an array of information that would have been impossible or difficult to obtain otherwise. Walter's work on vitamin D, in particular, led to a significant paradigm shift. After a century of science that linked vitamin D only to bone-related calcium regulation at five classical sites, Walter used his receptor microscopic autoradiography to identify and characterize vitamin D in more than 50 target tissues in the body. His seminal 1979 report of vitamin D nuclear receptor distribution in the central nervous system (brain, spinal cord, pituitary) and the many discoveries of vitamin D target tissues that followed challenged the then-current calcitropic view of vitamin D and were initially rejected by the scientific community. Decades later, Walter Stumpf's extensively published receptor microscopic autoradiography data and groundbreaking discoveries are now reflected in scientific acceptance of vitamin D's central place in endocrinology and in prophylactic and therapeutic medicine.
Walter Stumpf took microscopic data of target actions at a cell biological level and linked it to our ultimate cosmic presence, the sun. He showed that vitamin D is not a vitamin, but a hormone, one he renamed "soltriol," that acts at sites all over the body, and pointed to its main biological function of maintaining life and adapting vital functions to the solar environment. Walter Stumpf has been credited with laying the groundwork for the vitamin D era.
Walter Stumpf is survived by his wife of 51 years, Ursula Stumpf; and three daughters, Andrea Stumpf, Carolin Lloyd, with husband Robert Lloyd, and Silva Stumpf; and five grandchildren, Walter, Lyndon, Emily, Luke and Maxie. He is also survived by family in Germany.
He was preceded in death by his beloved son Martin.
A man of humility, Walter Stumpf pursued lifelong learning, had great sensitivity for and understanding of other cultures and languages, and at the same time dearly loved his home country. In his last years, he took memorable trips to Germany and Austria with the whole family, introducing even his grandchildren to the beauty of landscape, the joy of hiking, the pleasure of language and literature, and the value of culture and traditions.
All friends and family are welcome to celebrate Walter Stumpf's life at his home on Sunday, December 2 between 2 and 5 pm, with some spoken words at 3.
In recognition and appreciation of his love of nature, and his work on the land for ongoing enjoyment, those wishing to make a contribution in Walter Stumpf's memory may consider a gift to the Conservation Fund of the North Carolina Botanical Garden at [email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email protected]">[email 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To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Published by The News & Observer from Nov. 25 to Nov. 28, 2012.
Memories and Condolences
for Walter Stumpf
Sponsored by anonymous.
6 Entries
Joel Velten
February 27, 2013
I pray the Lord to keep my friend Dr. Walter E. Stumpf among Jesus and all the saints in the paradise
Joel Velten
February 27, 2013
Dear Stumpf family,
I was very shoked when I could see this message today in the internet. I really remembered Mr. Stumpf today because I am writing a book about the history Domingos Martins, located in the State of Espírito Santo in Brazil and I could see in the books of register in the Evangelic church the name of one the families who arrived here in the beginning of the years 1850. At the same time Dr. Walter Stumpf came in my mind and I wanted to s end him an e-mail about this. I remember very well he came here in 2003 with his wife and duaghter and my toen was recomended for
him by Mr. Helmut Meyerfreund who was the Chocolate Garoto owner. I had a g ood time with all you here and I also remember he was enchanted with a vey old house which belonged to the first German Immigrantes here Familie Schlenz. Hope Frau Stumpf you remember me and all the history I am writing here. My is Joel Guilherme Velten who is Mr. Meyerfreund´s friend, Once again I want to tell you I am very very sorry about his death.Please letr me know about you. I will be happy.You were very nice when you came here. I will tell Mr. and Mrs, Meyerfreund what happened. God blesses you and family and comfort your hearts.
Sincerely
Joel Guilherme Velten
My e-mail is [email protected]
Not a long time ago I got an e-mail from Dr. Stumpf. I live in Brazil
Jean Lauder
December 6, 2012
I am shocked and extemely saddened by the news of Walter's death. My deepest sympathy to Ula and the family.
Jean
[email protected]
Don Keefer
November 28, 2012
We have lost a wonderful man.
Walter and I came to UNC in 1970 - he as a faculty member in Anatomy, me as a first year grad student in another department. I attended a research seminar he gave and was so impressed by this new autoradiography technique for diffusible substances that I switched departments to study in his lab. The most important thing Walter taught me was planning and organizational skills. My previous advisor would say "Don, hurry up we need this done by next Thursday." Walter would say "Don, take your time, we don't need this done until tomorrow." The very nature of his autoradiography technique, where you prepare tissues and then let the autoradiograms expose for 12 - 18 months or longer, necessitated good organizational skills. Under Walter's watchful eye, I mapped estrogen-concentrating neurons in the primate brain and developed a combined autoradiography and immunocytochemistry method to study hormone binding in the pituitary gland. Walter then said "Where would you like to postdoc - Japan or Germany?" He loved both countries deeply. I chose Germany, and spent two years at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research.
The lessons I learned with Walter have been invaluable to me.
Mandy and I would like to express our sincere condolences to Ursala and to all of Walter's family. I will never forget his warm smile.
Alice Kirkman
November 27, 2012
I was so sorry to read about Dr. Stumpf's passing. I was also fascinated to read about his long and incredibly productive life. Years ago, while in college, I worked summers in the UNC Anatomy Dept. I remember Dr. Stumpf with great fondness. He was so friendly and encouraging to me and all the young people working there. My sympathy to his entire family, who must miss him very much. Please know he has been an inspiration, touching so many lives.
Rita Singh
November 26, 2012
I'm so sorry to hear of your loss. Such a warm smile, such an amazing person. I'm inspired by his dedication to learning, growing, and new experiences. I know you all will cherish the joy that your father brought to your whole family. My condolences.
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