Henry A. Lardy

MEMORIAL RESOLUTION OF THE FACULTY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ON THE DEATH OF PROFESSOR EMERITUS HENRY A. LARDY

4 April 2011

Henry A. Lardy, professor emeritus of biochemistry, passed away on August 4, 2010 from complications of cancer. Henry was born August 17, 1917 in rural Roslyn, South Dakota where he grew up working on the farm, hunting, and trapping. He graduated from South Dakota State University in 1939 and then matriculated at the University of Wisconsin, earning a master’s degree in 1941 and a PhD degree in 1943. He spent one year as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto before returning to the University of Wisconsin as an assistant professor. He served on the faculty from 1945 to 1988—the last 22 years as Vilas Professor of Biochemistry. He functioned in a parallel role as co-director of the Institute for Enzyme Research throughout most of his career until he became professor emeritus in 1988. He continued an active research program until his death in 2010.

As a graduate student under Paul H. Phillips at this university in 1940, Henry discovered a method for employing egg yolk in the preservation of bull semen for later use in artificial insemination. This work had a major impact on livestock breeding and led eventually to Henry being awarded the Wolf Prize in Agriculture in 1981.

Henry was an intrepid researcher. During his career he conducted basic research on spermatozoa and fertilization; the vitamin biotin; thyroid toxicity and the thyroid hormone; the coupling of energy from respiration with ATP formation and the sites of uncoupling by the antibiotics aurovertin, oligomycin, antimycin A, and rutamycin; the control of carbohydrate metabolism and the phenomenon of gluconeogenesis; and sudden infant death syndrome. His group solubilized the fatty acid synthetase complex, which is still under intensive study around the world. His group first purified and crystallized many enzymes in carbohydrate metabolism. In research following his formal retirement, Henry studied sudden infant death syndrome, obesity, and diseases of hormonal imbalances. In recognition of his outstanding scholarship, Henry was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in addition to honorary membership in the Japanese Biochemical Society. Henry received many awards in addition to the Wolf Prize, including the Paul Lewis Award from the American Chemical Society, the Amory Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the William C. Rose Award from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology among others.

Henry trained more than 170 graduate and postdoctoral students during his career. Many of those students went on to establish their own exemplary professional careers in academic institutions in the United States and abroad, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Henry’s colleagues became accustomed to encountering Henry’s former students whenever they traveled to national and international meetings or other academic institutions. They would inevitably be asked about Hank Lardy and his latest research.

Henry and his wife of 67 years, Annrita Lardy, were married at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City on January 21, 1943. Henry and Annrita were social leaders for many years in the Madison community. They entertained hundreds of guests in their home and at their farm in Sauk County, where they raised golden retriever dogs and Arabian horses. Henry and Annrita raised a distinguished family, Nicholas, Jeffrey, Diana, and Michael. Henry is also survived by five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Each of Henry and Annrita’s children has made a mark in the world. Annrita has been active in community events all of her life. She was named a Woman of Distinction by the YWCA, and the West Madison Rotary Club recognized her with their Service Award.

Throughout his lifetime, Henry Lardy avidly supported human rights. During the era of Joseph R. McCarthy, Henry openly and publicly opposed the character assassinations that characterized McCarthyism through his membership in, and in 1954 as President of, Citizens Against McCarthy. For as far back as his surviving colleagues can remember, Henry had affixed to his office door a poster that read in bold letters: Fair Taxes Now Take The Rich Off Welfare . At this writing that poster is still in place on Henry’s office door.

Together, Henry and Annrita embodied the principle that wealth is more a state of mind than a summation of possessions. Their true wealth consisted of intellectual and physical vitality and social conscience.

Henry Lardy is and will always be sorely missed by his family, his friends and colleagues, and his students and research associates.