Frances Ann Walker

Walker, Frances Ann

Frances Ann Walker was a world-renowned chemist, a wonderful mentor, well-respected teacher, and a role model, especially for women, many of whom followed in her professional footsteps. Ann, as her family, friends, students, and colleagues affectionately called her, was born and raised in Adena, Ohio, the oldest of five siblings. She graduated from Adena High School in 1958.

She attended the College of Wooster where in addition to her studies, she played clarinet in the College of Wooster Scot Marching Band. She received her B.A. in Chemistry there in 1962 along with four other women classmates, who have remained in contact throughout their lives, and her Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from Brown University in 1966. She started her academic career with a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Los Angeles, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health. Thereafter, she became Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Ithaca College in 1967 and three years later moved back to California to join the Faculty at San Francisco State University. Excelling in both research and teaching, Ann was rapidly promoted to Associate Professor of Chemistry in 1972 and to Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry in 1976. After developing a successful research program in porphyrin and iron porphyrin chemistry, Ann moved to Arizona in 1990 to join the Faculty in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Arizona, where her research program expanded to include heme protein structure and function. Ann's prolific career at the University of Arizona was rewarded with promotion to Regents Professor in 2001. In 2013, Ann retired as Regents Professor Emerita.

Ann's novel findings in model heme and heme protein chemistry, which sparked a new era in the field of paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, resulted in the publication of more than 170 peer-reviewed papers, 19 chapters in books, and hundreds of published conference proceedings and abstracts. Ann's remarkable work was recognized by numerous prestigious awards. To name a few, in 2000 she was awarded the Francis P. Garvan-John M. Olin Medal which recognizes female chemists for distinguished scientific accomplishment, leadership and service to chemistry. In 2006 she was awarded the Alfred Bader Award in Bioinorganic or Bioorganic Chemistry for her contributions to the field of bioinorganic chemistry. In 2020, she received the Eraldo Antonini Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines in recognition of her exceptional, internationally acclaimed research on heme proteins and metalloporphyrins. Ann's contributions to chemistry were also celebrated by her election in 2011 as Fellow of the American Chemical Society in recognition of her outstanding achievements and contributions to science, the profession and the Society, her excellence in scientific leadership and her exceptional volunteer service to the scientific community. Ann was also elected to serve (1998-2010) as Associate Editor for the prestigious Journal of the American Chemical Society, the flagship journal of the American Chemical Society.

Ann was a ferocious worker with what seemed like a limitless reservoir of energy. Her research program, supported by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, focused on investigating the electronic structure, bonding, thermodynamics, and kinetics of hemes and other metallomacrocycles. Whereas Ann's early work concentrated on the understanding of synthetic porphyrins and their iron complexes, she later incorporated the tools of recombinant DNA technology to expand her research interests to include heme proteins and the enzymatic reactions these molecules carry out in living organisms. Her fundamental discoveries in porphyrins and related iron complexes paved the way for her and others to study and understand how heme, an iron porphyrin complex present in many important heme containing proteins, enables the remarkable and central role these proteins play in living cells.

Ann also was a caring and remarkable mentor for uncounted undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral students she mentored, all of whom are pursuing rewarding professional careers either in academia or in industry. Her influence on female scientists and students from underrepresented groups was notable. Ann led and mentored by example. Her passion for research and education, driven by her impeccable professionalism and her strikingly intelligent, conscientious, and quiet manner earned her the respect and love of her students and colleagues alike. Everyone fortunate enough to have had Ann as mentor and friend is indebted to her for having enriched and furthered their own scientific careers. Ann lived her life fully and with the certainty that she would leave this world a better place.

Ann married Frederick R "Fritz" Jensen, an organic chemistry professor at the University of California Berkeley in 1976, and they had many adventures until his death in 1987 after a long illness.

Ann was always very involved in her church. She was an elder at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Tucson, serving on the session for several terms during her 30 years there. She also was a very active member of the pastoral search committee when it was needed on several occasions, taking this role very seriously. Additionally, she served on the Presbyterian Campus Ministry Board.

Ann loved to travel. She often combined interesting trips with chemistry conferences and symposia. She did sabbaticals in England, Germany, and Argentina and made regular trips to Luebeck, Germany to perform Moessbauer spectra in the lab of Alfred Trautwein. She traveled to interesting places all around the world, including Russia, many European countries, Machu Picchu in Peru, China, Japan, Australia, and the high mountain Atacama observatory and desert in Chile. She traveled to all eight continents (including Madagascar), often including family members. She took sister Janet (age 15) to Europe in 1970 for a month, cementing the travel bug in her too. Ann and Fritz bought land in Panajachel, Guatemala on the scenic high mountain Lake Atitlan and built a house there. Several family members including Bob and Janet visited them when they were there at Christmastime or in the summers, having many adventures. Ann and Fritz visited brother David in Alaska in 1976. Ann, Janet and Janet's wife Kathy traveled together to Antarctica in 2014, and Ann and sister Betty took a four month cruise around the world in 2019.

Ann died on January 30, 2022 after a long illness. Her parents were Robert W. and Marian S. Walker of Adena, Ohio, and she is survived by siblings, Elizabeth W. "Betty" Campbell, Robert A. "Bob" Walker, David W. Walker (wife Bobbi) and Janet M. Walker (wife Kathy); nieces, Kristin and Michelle Campbell, Elizabeth "Beth" Todd and Mari W. Walker; nephews, Scott A. Campbell, Robert A. Walker and Mark S. Walker and grand-nieces, Ayanna Nimrod, Abigail and Esther Todd, Lydia Walker and grand-nephew, Luke Walker.

A memorial service will be planned at a later time. In lieu of flowers, donations in her name can be sent to Trinity Presbyterian Church in Tucson: http://trinitytucson.org.