George Michael Holzwarth

1937 - 2024

George Holzwarth, Wake Forest University biophysics professor and researcher, fine woodworker and baker, died March 13, 2024 at his home in Winston-Salem, NC at the age of 86.

George was born in Dusseldorf, Germany in 1937, to Matilde and Hans T. Holzwarth. The family emigrated to the United States in 1939 and eventually made a home in Westfield, NJ. George recounted many happy memories of growing up with his older brother Albert (Al) and younger sister Matilde. He spent his youth studying, boat-building with his brother, fishing, raising pet turtles, and developing what would become a lifelong passion for woodworking and clocks.

George graduated from Wesleyan University in 1959, and earned his PhD in biophysics from Harvard University in 1964. His well-cited thesis research on experimental methods for measuring the special optical properties of polypeptides was the first of many innovative techniques he developed to quantitatively probe biological materials.

George met his wife Natalie during his time as an assistant professor at the University of Chicago, and she agreed to marry him in spite of the fact that he had turned his 1-bedroom apartment into a woodworking shop. The couple and their two children, Edward and Clara, moved to Winston-Salem in 1983, when both George and Natalie joined the physics faculty at Wake Forest University.

George greatly enjoyed teaching his undergraduate and graduate students, and especially prized opportunities to help young scientists publish their first papers and present their first posters. Even after "retiring" in 2004, his research collaborations with colleagues and students continued. He could regularly be found at a workspace he carved out in Natalie's office, or in the lab. Always a devoted scientist, he finished revising and resubmitting one last journal article with colleagues just prior to his death.

George was a builder of elegant designs and a meticulous experimenter. He worked diligently to optimize and improve every project and process he worked on, from his research to his painstaking efforts to coax heirloom clocks to chime anew, to his baking and woodworking. Much of the furniture in George and Natalie's home was built by George, and he enjoyed making beautiful little wooden boxes as gifts.

He took pride in introducing his older grandson, Benny, to the joys and challenges of woodworking, and the two could spend hours discussing the physics of baseball curveballs and sliders. He shared a special bond and language (consisting primarily of quacks) with his younger grandson, Nico. Both grandchildren loved helping George in the kitchen, especially when they were enlisted to "test" the delicious results in the form of pastries, cookies, sour cherry pie and jam.

Keeper of the family history, George would often tell lively stories to anyone who would listen. He found personal histories fascinating, and was always curious to learn more about ancestries, emigration, and family roots. He relished the personalities that came through in his own family's anecdotes, which often captured the more humorous side of human nature. Stories that connected food to family were of particular interest.

He will be fondly remembered by all who knew him.