James G. Wilson was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, on April 2, 1915. His parents were fine people: hardworking, independent southern Democrats. Jim’s family and cultural heritage were important contributors to his active interest in racial tolera~ci;f,a ir play, and the importance of human dignity. During his precollege days, he was very interested in architecture, and, in fact, he was accepted at Georgia Tech. But the depression intervened, and since he was offered a scholarship at Mississippi College, near his home, he matriculated there and majored in biology. He graduated in 1936 after only 3 years of college and was also elected president of his class.

His next academic position was at the University of Richmond, where he received a Master’s degree in invertebrate biology in 1938. That summer he spent time at the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory, continuing his interest in invertebrate biology. He entered Brown University in the fall of 1938, studying reproductive physiology under the tutelage of Dr. William C. Young, who was a recognized authority on reproductive behavior. One year after arriving at Brown for his graduate studies toward the Ph.D., Dr. Young transferred to Yale and the future Dr. Wilson also went there to complete his studies.

Dr. Young, however, spent most of his time away from Yale, which meant that most of Jim’s contacts with his supervisor were only through Dr. Young’s secretary, Miss Harriet Chamberlain. This arrangement did not permit a satisfactory continuation of the guidance and training he had hoped to get from his graduate mentor, but it did permit a very pleasant and frequent association with Dr. Young’s secretary, whom Jim eventually married. It seemed important to reexamine his graduate education at that time, and so he transferred to the Department of Anatomy at Yale, which was headed by the internationally renowned Edgar Allen, whose field was reproductive endocrinology. Under Dr. Allen’s enthusiastic and inspiring guidance, Jim completed his Ph.D. in 1942.

Dr. Wilson then received a National Research Council Fellowship at the Carnegie Institute in Washington. In his usual modest manner, he attributed this award to the “prestige of Dr. Allen.” He did not remain at Carnegie very long because a faculty position became available at the University of Rochester Medical School in the Department of Anatomy, which was headed by Dr. Karl Mason.

Besides pursuing his academic responsibilities at Rochester, he used his artistic talents in preparing models of early embryonic development.

The following quote is an excerpt from a letter written by Dr. Wilson in 1948 to the Wards Natural Science Museum with regard to the preparation of publicity about the release of the famous Wilson-Ward embryonic models.

• "After coming to Rochester in 1942, I continued to do research in the endocrinologic tradition to which I had become accustomed at Yale. The first year I also helped in the teaching of histology and neuro-anatomy but, thereafter, I have been associated only with the course in gross anatomy. My comfortable routine of research in sexual endocrinology and teaching in gross anatomy continued for about three years, until one day it was suggested that I give some lectures on the subject of embryology. This was a disturbing development because, of all the ramifications of biological science with which I came in contact, embryology was undoubtedly the one with which I was least familiar. After many painful hours of studying and planning in preparation for the conventional type of lecture, I finally despaired of the whole thing and decided to demonstrate rather than try to describe certain complicated embryonic processes. With an assortment of hardware, and various colors of modeling clay, I set about making three-dimensional models of critical stages in embryonic development. It worked very nicely; for, to my amazement and to the students’ edification, embryology turned out to be fairly understandable-even interesting- when it became possible by means of models actually to visualize the changes and relationships.

• Since that enlightening experience, I have studied much embryology out of sheer interest, have asked to give all or nearly all of the lectures on embryology in connection with our anatomy courses, and have made only clay models to aid in my own and the students’ understanding of the subject. My research interests are now exclusively in the field of embryology. Although my productive efforts to date hardly warrant it, I now like to consider myself an embryologist. This is really rather ludicrous because my formal training in embryology consistcd of a poorly taught, and more poorly received, onesemester course in undergraduate school.

• Also in the incongruous vein is the fact that I should make models, which is considered by some to be an artistic endeavor; yet, I know nothing about art and have never made much of an effort to find out about it.”

So it was at Rochester that he became interested in embryology, embryological research, and sculpturing.

During World War 11, the University of Rochester established one of the divisions of the Manhattan project, which eventually became a division of the Atomic Energy Commission. Jim began his embryological research dealing with the effects of irradiation on embryonic development and supervised his first graduate student at Rochester.

Even more important, all three children of the Wilsons were born in Rochester. When he left Rochester, having completed the Wilson-Ward embryonic models as well as his family, he started his career as an experimental teratologist and a graduate educator.

Dr. Josef Warkany entered the professional and personal life of the Wilsons while Jim was at Rochester. Their long-distance consultations lasted for a number of years. They met to discuss both embryological slides and combined research projects. Eventually, Dr. Wilson was attracted to Cincinnati to work with i)r. Warkany. He was promoted from assistant to associate professor and remained in that position from 1950 to 1954.

In 1955, he accepted the position of professor and chairman of the new Department of Anatomy at the University of Florida Medical School in Gainesville. He remained there 11 years, during which time his teaching and research career blossomed. Many of his now-prestigious trainees come from the Florida program. It was in Florida that the first teratology workshop was conceived by Dr. Warkany and Dr. Wilson, and, in fact, the workshop was held in Florida in the mid-1960s. This workshop resulted in the much cited book Teratology, Principles and Techniques, published by the University of Chicago Press. There followed a series of national and international teratology workshops in which he participated.

In 1966, he returned to Cincinnati to head the division of Pathologic Embryology at the famous Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Institute of Developmental Research. He had successfully tried his hand at administration and chairmanship and wanted to spend more time in the laboratory. He retired from that position in 1980 and became professor emeritus.

His professional accomplishments were immense, and they resulted from his meticulous approach to research and his consistent effort. There was never a period in his career when research was not an important component of his professional life.

He belonged to many research societies. His first love was the Teratology Society, which he helped to organize. He was the second president of that organization, eventually being given honorary membership after his retirement. He was appointed to 32 national committees at the FDA, NIH, EPA, etc., as a valued consultant in the field of teratology. He wrote almost 200 research papers and edited five books. One book, Environment and Birth Defects, was entirely authored by him.

He published in the fields of reproductive endocrinology, embryology, radiation embryology, and teratogenesis involving trypan blue, vitamin A deficiency, vitamin A excess, chemotherapeutic agents, thalidomide, methyl mercury, aspirin, acetazolamide caffeine, etc.

His major contributions were in the development of approaches to animal testing. and he was one of the earliest workers in the field of primate teratology, developing many of the techniques and principles that are used today. He was interested in the experimental causes of limb defects and in the mechanisms of teratogenesis. Numerous review articles dealt with the etiology of environmentally produced human birth defects. He was steeped in the professional and social impact of teratogenicity on our society, and in his later years, he became fascinated by the medicolegal aspects of birth defects. He participated as an expert witness in many congenital malformation lawsuits, primarily as a responsibility to the judicial process but also because it was an important learning experience. He did become somewhat disillusioned with the inequities of certain aspects of the judicial process.

Dr. Wilson had many interests besides his professional involvements. His involvement in the development of the Wilson-Ward embryological models started him on a lifelong career of sculpturing, wood carving, and other artistic endeavors. These activities gave him great pleasure during both his professional and retirement years. Interestingly, his “career” in sculpturing began on a hideaway stretch of Florida beach with a piece of cedar kindling wood and a pocket knife. Jim was interested in “collectibles” -stamps, sea shells, minerals, wood samples, primitive African art, and Mayan artifacts- and in authoritative books for each of these collectibles. One of his interests, in Mesoamerica, was reflected in his travels, since he made trips to the Yucatan, other areas of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras.

As with many great teachers, his first love was his family-his wife, Harriet, his three children, Mary, Jay, and Arthur, and his grandchildren-along with his summer (retirement) home in the highlands of North Carolina. His wife was from the “best” of New England stock and was a respected friend of many of Jim’s trainees and many members of the Teratology Society. She was his strength and many of us believe the most important part of his life.

In the later years, illnesses appeared on the horizon, but one could not say that they “took their toll,” as the expression goes, because he maintained a vigor and enthusiasm until he became quite ill. His resonant, very recognizable voice was his trademark. It made him a fantastic teacher and lecturer.

His many students and colleagues will remember many personal anecdotes about their relation with Jim. Each of us has a different perspective of him as an individual, as a professional, and as a family person. But one thing we can all agree upon. He was a meticulous and responsible investigator. He was an excellent teacher and lecturer. He was a man of integrity and social responsibility. He made important contributions to the field of teratology, and he was a lovely human being, which is really the most important of all.

PERSONS WHO RECEIVED SOME RESEARCH TRAINING IN VARIOUS ASSOCIATIONS WITH DR. WILSON

Mark V. Barrow, Allan S. Bazzoli, Allan R. Beaudoin,“ Betsy D. Carlton, Gabriel Ceron, Kenneth P. Chepenick, Joseph J. Hallett, Alvin Hardman, Stephen B. Harris, Kenneth S. Hirsch, Joseph F. Holson, Jr., Andre Jackson, E. Marshall Johnson,* Robert L. Jordan, Marten Kernis, Carole A. Kimmel, Kennet~h L. Klein, De’v’endra M. Kochhar,” Sally Y. Long, F. Jay Murray, Michael L. Netzlofff, Nicholas A. Purichia, Edmond J. Ritter, William J. Scott, Jr.,* Thomas H, Shepard,” Richard G. Skalko, Morris Smithberg, Stephen P. Sugrue, Kiichi Takano, Charles T. Theisen, and L. David Wise.

ROBERT L. BRENT, M.D., Ph.D.

Alfred I. duPont Institute

Wilmington, Delaware

and

The Thomas Jefferson College

Thomas Jefferson University

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania