Nigel Warwick Daw

Daw, Nigel Warwick

Nigel Daw of Branford, CT, died November 3 at the age of 88 after a long struggle with Parkinson's. Nigel was a pioneer in visual neurophysiology, as well as a true gentleman, and loving husband, father and grandfather. Born in London in 1933, he grew up in various places in the countryside of war-time England. He studied math at Trinity College, Cambridge and then came to America to study color vision at Polaroid before going on get his PhD in Biophysics at Johns Hopkins University. He met his wife, artist Leila Daw, in Cambridge, MA and they had two sons in Baltimore. After a fellowship with David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel at Harvard, he joined the faculty at Washington University in St Louis, becoming Acting Chairman in Physiology, then in Neurobiology. While in St. Louis, Nigel's family initially spent summers in Woods Hole, MA, where he continued research at the Marine Biological Laboratory started during his PhD years. Later summers included camping trips touring national parks out west and on weekends, races with the Carlyle Sailing Association. From their homes in University City and then Clayton, the family enjoyed the many inspiring sites and events around the area. When his sons were grown, Nigel moved back east to serve as Professor in Ophthalmology and Neurobiology at Yale until he retired. He received the 1994 Friedenwald Award from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology for his many contributions to the field and was elected an American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellow in 2003. He also wrote the widely used textbook, Visual Development, as well as a book for a more general audience, How Vision Works, discussing the psychology and physiology of visual phenomena. Throughout their lives, Nigel and Leila loved to travel, and in addition to many trips to visit family in England, they visited cultural heritage and natural beauty around the world, even sailing on distant seas to do so. A driven scientist and adventurous sailor, he was also a soft spoken, thoughtful, kind, gentle man, and he will be sadly missed. He is survived by his wife, Leila, his sister, Jennifer Black, two sons, Warwick and Adrian Daw, as well as by three grandchildren, Brennan, Marguerite, and Azalea Daw. A memorial service will be held at Trinity Episcopal Church in Branford, CT on Saturday, December 17th.