In Memoriam

Karl Gordon Lark 1930–2020

Founding Chair of the School of Biological Sciences

Karl Gordon Lark, Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Utah, passed away on April 10, 2020 after a 7-year battle with cancer. A renowned geneticist, Lark’s research has uncovered fundamental aspects of DNA replication and genetics across many systems, from bacteria to soybeans to dogs. He came to the U in 1970 as the biology department’s inaugural chair with a vision—to build a research and teaching powerhouse in the desert. In just six years he recruited seventeen faculty members from all biological disciplines, establishing an institution of scientific excellence, said Denise Dearing who now directs the School which often reports the most majors of any academic unit on campus.

“The [University of Utah’s] nascent research community, in every field from molecular biology to community ecology, was built by Lark in creative, often wildly unconventional small steps,” wrote Baldomero “Toto” Olivera, Distinguished Professor of the School of Biological Sciences in an unpublished essay for the Annual Reviews of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Olivera conducts world-renowned research of cone snail venom and pain management, and was recruited by Lark. “He personally

Curiosity and coincidence guided Lark’s lifelong pursuit of discovery. His father was physics chair at Purdue University and his mother was an artist and psychiatrist. Lark enrolled at the University of Chicago a year after World War II ended at the age of fifteen. Eventually he met Leo Szilard, regarded as the father of the Manhattan Project but who had turned his attention from nuclear reactions to the newly emerging field of the molecular basis of life. Szilard suggested that he go to Cold Spring Harbor laboratory where he met his mentor Mark Adams. Adams studied phages, viruses that invade bacterial cells and take over various hosts function to propagate themselves. He not only inspired Lark’s love of molecular biology research, but also taught him how to organize effective undergraduate science education. Lark returned to Chicago to complete his degree and had his first eureka moment—he discovered reversible changes in the physical structure of phage proteins. It would be about four more years before the field generally accepted that molecules could change a protein’s shape.

Lark returned to Cold Spring Harbor in the summer of 1950 to work with Adams, and there he met his future wife and scientific collaborator, Cynthia. Lark completed his PhD at NYU, did two years of a post doc at Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen and one year at the University of Geneva.

In 1956, Lark accepted a job at St. Louis University Medical School. Here, Lark had what he called his second epiphany— an experiment to show that in the absence of protein synthesis, replication of DNA stopped at a particular point on the bacterial chromosome. The experiment set the course of his research for the next two decades. Later in 1963, while at Kansas State University, the Larks focused their research on the process of DNA replication in bacteria. Notably, they pioneered how to measure the point at which DNA begins replicating, how to track the progression of replication in living cells and developed the technique of measuring the size of cells before they begin to replicate. In 1965, the American Association for Microbiology honored Lark with the Ely Lilly Award, given each year to recognize landmark research in microbial physiology.

In 1970, the U’s Robert Vickery recruited Lark to build a powerful new Department of Biology in what would become, in 2014, the School of Biological Sciences. And build he did. Of the seventeen new tenure-track faculty he hired during his time as chair from 1970-1977, Lark tapped Mario Capecchi who would subsequently become a Nobel Prize laureate. Others included Raymond Gesteland and Ray White who went on to establish new departments in the School of Medicine. Wrote Capecchi following Lark’s passing, “I was attracted to the young Utah biology department in part by Gordon’s support of long-term studies aimed at significant problems, but without the promise

1955 photo of 25-year-old Gordon Lark (second from right) during his postdoc days at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. Graduate student Werner Arber who subsequently won the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is fifth from right. Photo courtesy of Costa Georgopoulos

1955 photo of 25-year-old Gordon Lark (second from right) during his postdoc days at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. Graduate student Werner Arber who subsequently won the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is fifth from the right.

Courtesy of Costa Georgopolos

of immediately publishable results, quite different from the ‘publish-or-perish’ policies imposed at many other places.”

In Utah, the Larks turned their attention from DNA replication in bacteria to plant cells and tissues, particularly soybeans, for the next decade. In the early 1990s, disaster and serendipity struck. The Lark lab and all of their experiments were destroyed while the building was under renovation. After a year of trying to salvage their work, they switched to studying whole soybean plants in agricultural fields, focusing on the genetics underlying certain traits, such as the ability of the crop to adapt to different climates. Overall, their laboratory identified genes that increased the yield of soybeans by ten percent.

In 1996, serendipity struck again after the Larks’ beloved Portuguese Water Dog died. In an effort to replace their pet, the Larks connected to a dog breeder in New York who, when she learned that Lark was a geneticist, convinced him to study the breed. Eventually Lark would identify genes that determine the size and shape of the head, thickness of the thigh bone, shape of the pelvis, and characteristics of the lower foreleg.

Lark formally retired from the U as a Distinguished Professor in 1999, but his legacy in biology reaches beyond his direct collaborators. “Individuals can have a big effect on an institution,” said David Grunwald, professor of human genetics at the U School of Medicine. “They can either set a precedent that honors creativity, respect and excellence, or they can make everyone feel like a cog in a machine. Gordon built a place that engendered creativity.”

Gordon Lark is survived by his current wife Antje Curry, her two children from a previous marriage as well as his four children with first wife Cynthia who passed away in 2005. Donations in his honor can be made to the Huntsman Cancer Institute and to the Gordon Lark Fund in the School of Biological Sciences in anticipation of establishing an endowed chair in his name.

Contributions can be made at biology.utah.edu