Hi Abe! This is Jim Hoerter. I use to be in your lab at UMC. I decided to retire after 40 years of research and teaching. You were an inspiration to me and very instrumental in helping me to develop my skills as a scientist and grant writer. I strived to develop a UVA-inducible model of melanoma but never achieved it. It was sure a lot of fun trying. I have such fond memories of the times in your lab and your patient mentoring. All those inactivation curves and protein gels! Thank you! You are a great scientist and friend.
Abe:
Happy Birthday!! You look exactly the same as when I first met you 43 years ago! I actually thought that you were pretty old then, but I now realize that you were so young. Isn’t it nice that we’ve both had wonderful careers in those 43 years! To many more! I have donated to the Cancer Center so that you can at least buy a few more petri dishes. Lou What a remarkable life of accomplishment that Abe has led as a world class scholar, mentor, colleague, and scientist! It is still hard for me not to refer to him as Dr. Eisenstark, since he was already a legend in the Dept when I got my MS degree at Mizzou and as for then, I remain in awe of his accomplishments! However, he has kindly and repeatedly reminded me to please call him Abe, and I must not disappoint him! Abe is a cherished and respected friend and I am also privileged to call him a collaborator. He is a true visionary. I have the utmost respect and admiration for him! Abe's prominent mark on the sciences continues through his vanguard contributions to the scientific community through his research, publications, and of course, his profound influence on the students! In addition to his brilliance, anyone who knows Abe realizes that he is a man of uncompromising character and integrity who possesses boundless energy and dedication in the pursuit of advancing human health and quality of life. Indeed, I truly believe that he can outwork any of us, including his students! Simply put, Abe is one remarkable individual and I join all of you in celebrating and honoring his 95 year young anniversary!
Here's to the next 95 years, Abe! I can't imagine the next level of amazing scientific revelations that await your discovery! With my warmest regards and most sincere wishes, Cheryl Cheryl A. Nickerson, Ph.D. Abe,
I am really sorry that I missed your reception. I have always been grateful that you gave me a chance to be at MU and then supported me when there were bumps in the road. I always admired you as Director and hope that I learned at least some of what made you a great Director. I do wish that I had been able to maintain my research program when I was Director as well as you did when you were there – but your ability to do that is one of the things that made you unique. Best wished forever! John Dear Abe,
I hope you still check you email! I have been here in CA for a while now, but stay in touch with the "main events" at MU. I regret that I will miss your celebration tomorrow, but wish you the very, very best. Thanks for all you did for me through my career-- from convincing me that MU was the place to come, to setting such an extraordinary example for everyone through all those years. Enjoy the festivities! I will be toasting you from afar. Kindest regards, Kim It is wonderful to see that Abe is celebrating 95th birthday. I have associated with Abe for a long time at the University of Missouri and at Cancer Research Center. I am so glad to let you all know that Abe was also on my Ph.D. thesis committee from 1967-70 at Kansas State University, Manhattan. He is a wonderful mentor and a great advisor and a friend. In my next trip to Columbia, MO I would like to meet him. I and my wife wish him great life and would like to see his 100th birthday celebrations.
Best regards, Ram Guntaka TO DADDY, AKA DR. ABE
It’s most appropriate your 95th birthday be designated as a time to acknowledge your scientific contributions. You tell us love of your family is the most important thing, but science has to run a very, very close second. Perhaps you’re creating the Fountain of Youth in a petri dish. Perhaps, as you insist, it’s the simple excitement at seeing what’s happened overnight, the thrill of discovery, that keeps you young. Memories? Oh, we have them! Playing with film canisters (at about age 3) while you checked your experiments. Cleaning out mouse cages and moldy refrigerators for spending money when we got older. Graduating to sending away for reprints, on postcards, practicing penmanship, learning to spell e-coli and salmonella. Entertaining graduate students who brought goodies of Turkish candies and Hawaiian fabrics. Touring labs the world over. I remember the night, before I could read, when you explained x and y chromosomes in the margins of a newspaper. I remember the night you received news of your Guggenheim and we ate lobster. I remember your return from your first trip to Japan when you’d stopped in Hawaii and brought home armfuls of orchids that we distributed around Manhattan. Happiest of happy, dear Daddy! May it be another splendid and fulfilling year. Please know how grateful we are not only for your scientific contributions but for your creativity, generosity, and love. Always and forever, Romalyn I hope you have a great day and get to spend it with good friends and family.
My Best to you. John McEntire I posted your testimonial to my facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/dave.eisenstark You can read it there, along with some pix. Or here's the gist of it...actually, this is the whole thing: Just to let everyone know, it's my Dad's 95th birthday today. His name's Abe Eisenstark and he's an inspiration to his family and just about everyone else he comes into contact with. From humble roots in Kansas City, he's gone on to become one of the most respected microbiologists in the world, with a bacteria collection going back 50-60 years. (For those of you who don't know, most people don't keep their bacteria around that long.) He's still going strong, with his wife Joan's help, going into the lab most every day, doing some very promising cancer research. He's also found time to raise three kids, fold himself into an entire second family, forge a darn good Rothko on occasion, give the Republicans fits, and go to Paris some 25 times (we've lost count). Don't make me put this on Kickstarter—send a donation: http://www.cancerresearchcenter.org/donations Thanks, Dave September 5, 2014 Dear Dr. Abe, The first year I worked at CRC, we celebrated your 75th birthday. Michelle Becker-Hapak went around to everyone and told us of your milestone. What we did not know was that she was noting our comments so she could print all of them on banners and display them in the conference room on your special day. One of the banners read, “Holy cow! Dr. Abe is 75?! ~ Marnie” All of us who know you are impressed by you, but do not fool yourself and believe it is because of your age. It is because of your person. You once told me something that has stuck with me for years. You said, “I try to spend very little time doing anything I don’t enjoy doing.” You made this comment in passing as if we were discussing the weather, without realizing its profoundness. It is an approach we all should have in life. It does not mean we avoid the things we do not enjoy, but rather to tackle them determinedly so we may get back to the good things or to find the joy in even the most mundane tasks. It is this mindset that speaks to much more than your scientific accomplishments; it is your accomplishment as an individual and a mentor. I have seen you interact with others on many different levels and marvel at how well you find a way to relate to everyone. You visit with donors, Board members, collaborators, staff, and students of all ages. I had known you for years before I ever saw you interact with a group of students. They were all 8th grade science students from Tuscumbia, Missouri. When you stood before them you wore an educator’s hat that made me wish I could have had you as a science teacher. Your in depth understanding of all we do and science in general gives you a keen ability to educate, but it is your genuine outlook on “the big picture” that gives you the unique ability to connect with others from any walk of life. Thank you for allowing us to share your birthday with you, and for sharing your wisdom with us on a daily basis. Most sincerely, Marnie HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! I hope you're having a great birthday day! Congratulations on 95 years of accomplishments! Good luck with your research fund raising, I hope they give you the piles of money you deserve. Here is a Chinese birthday cake to wish you happiness in the future. If you send me your address (or I can get it from Dad) I'll send you some mail from China! Love, Roma Dear Dr. Abe, First of all, I would like to begin by saying what a privilege and honor it is to work with you and to share the same space in time with you and everyone at the Cancer Research Center. I never imagined six years ago while turning an ordinary corner in my life I would have stumbled upon such a lovely place to spend my professional time. You have taught and touched a vast group of human beings in your lifetime, Dr. Abe and I am proud to be one of them. You are truly a remarkable icon! During this drop of time I have known you, you have proven to me (yet again) what self-pride, determination and positivity can grow into. Wow! Life is an amazing gift and I congratulate you on your extraordinary love of life, thus far! I wish you the very best today and always! Happy Birthday…. Life is Good!! Alycia I’d like to wish Abe a Happy Birthday and share my favorite quote of his: “Every day I go into lab and find a new result. And I think to myself ‘Today, I know something that no one else in the world knows.’ And it’s that passion that keeps me a scientist.” Happy Birthday Abe. See you in the lab. -Robert Kazmierczak Hi Abe!
Sent me a message that you will be 95! Hoorah! We need to get together! Do you ever come to St. Louis any more? I pass through Columbia here and there but it is always on my way to Kansas City or St. Joseph, MO. How are things in the lab? Please let me know how you are doing. Michelle
Abe: Happy Birthday! Our initial acquaintance was concerning phage T3 in the early 60s and then blossomed as we exchanged info and experiences on Salmonella. I am ecstatic that you are still enjoying science and discovery. It is the biggest joy. Have a joyous celebration. All the very best. Cheers! Roy
Roy Curtiss III University Professor of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences and Director, Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology and Center for Microbial Genetic Engineering http://labs.biodesign.asu.edu/curtiss https://sols.asu.edu/people/roy-curtiss-iii http://cidv.biodesign.asu.edu The Biodesign Institute Arizona State University PO Box 875401 Tempe, AZ 85287-5401
A big "Happy Birthday" hug is being sent to you!........ And many many Congratulations on Nassau finally contacting you! How spectacular....!!!!
You are an icon and a bright spirit that lifts me up! Happy Happy Birthday!....and many more to come! Your buddy in LA, Mary Margaret ;-) Abe! Wow you look great on your picture in the Bacteriophage article! I am sorry to hear of your health difficulties but I see that you remain very busy! Time has really flown by. When I think that Mary and Nick were born when I was working for you and now they are grown, it kind of puts it into perspective. Mary is a Civil Engineering major at University of Missouri Science and Technology. She plays soccer for the university in her spare time. Nick is a Mechanical Engineering major at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI. (He wanted to get away from Missouri.) I have attached pictures of them as well as Ray and I when we went to the Laumier Sculpture Park Art Fair this year. Ray and I remain at Sigma and Washington University respectively. We are both well. I remain working with Drs. Linette and Carreno. We are further developing the dendritic cell vaccine for metastatic melanoma. I have included a pdf of the last paper we published with the first results from our work. The work to make all the components for this vaccine and then personalizing it to the patient has been exhausting but rewarding. Beatriz and I make the autologous dendritic cells in a GMP facility just one floor above the lab. After activation and inclusion of peptides to make them specific for melanoma, they are infused back into the patient at the Siteman Cancer Center just across the campus. At least two of the patients (out of seven) are alive and well with no side effects. We are moving the vaccine forward and are writing up the next set of three patients right now. It is really amazing stuff if I must say so myself. When we finish it, I will send you a copy. Mick was the one who contacted me to let me know of your birthday. I am glad to see that you guys are still working together. Do you keep in touch with past members of CRC? Please have Marnie send me an invitation to your gala. Ray and I will look forward to sitting with you! Cheers! Michelle |