Richard Epand August 1961

”How did it get so late so soon?” – Dr. Seuss

          This symposium in Richard’s honor has really triggered a series of recollections in my mind as I realized that we have known each other for over 60 years. Time flies when you’re having fun!

           Rather than discuss Richard’s very significant contributions to science, I would like to provide some brief, non-scientific, personal recollections. We met as first year graduate students in 1959 in the Biochemistry Department of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. We happily shared an apartment for a couple of years as well all the traumas and successes of our time as students in New York City. Our shared apartment and the many parties we hosted there exposed me to the uses of practical statistics. We generated spread-sheets of probabilities of attendees to enable us to estimate required purchases of consumables for the parties.

           Who could have predicted the successes that Richard has achieved since then? Certainly it would have been a surprise to some of our less insightful professors. For example, in our first year Max Eisenberg, the professor who was in charge of the introductory graduate biochemistry lab, brought our entire first year class together and proceeded to lecture us on what bozos we were. It was made clear to us that unless we shaped up and took things more seriously, we were destined to failure. Judging by Richard’s achievements I guess some of us shaped up. Hard as it might be to believe today, given Richard’s accomplishments, and possibly an embarrassment to him, he failed our graduate course in Physical Chemistry taught by Victor K. LaMer. Multiple attempts to rectify what was clearly an error led nowhere as no faculty member was willing to go to bat for Richard. In the end it became apparent that LaMer had misidentified Richard with another student but was adamantly unwilling to admit his error. My recollection is that Richard remediated that by taking a Phys Chem course in the summer, and probably got an A.

           An additional one of the degree requirements was to pass two foreign language exams. These were in the form of translating a journal article. Our German language exams were given by Erwin Chargaff the Viennese émigré and DNA chemist, and by Reinhold Benesch, the hemoglobin chemist. Chargaff made it clear that he had little regard for us and even less for our command of German, but passed us nevertheless. Benesch professed an inability to understand how we could pass the German exam if we did not know Yiddish. Multiple other embarrassing events of those years come to mind, but are perhaps best left buried.

           Ultimately my departure from our shared apartment was prompted by my marriage. In one of life’s strange coincidences it turned out that my then wife to be actually knew Richard since they were both small kids, i.e. over 80 years. Life works in mysterious ways. Our families have maintained contact over many years as we moved from job to job, getting together on occasion, for holiday celebrations, or attendance at scientific meetings.

           Finally, I want to express my appreciation and admiration to Richard for his long-standing friendship, and accomplishments, and to acknowledge the very devoted personal and significant scientific role, played over all these years by Raquel, his wife and collaborator, and our dear friend.

"Richard is the 'guru' of lipids. He has always been the go-to person for anything about membrane and lipids.

Both Richard Epand and Raquel Epand have made exceptional contributions to membrane biophysics.  In addition to their great science, they are friendly, humble, and lovely people.  Congratulations, and my best wishes to them!"
 

"Richard, you have been a great resource when it comes to lipid biophysics both through your manuscripts, your lectures and those multiple times when I have emailed you for lipid advice – Congratulations on a great career!!"

"Richard was the kind of collaborator every scientist is dreaming of. He had the answers, the techniques, the expertise, and the critical insight to make it all work.

Between 2010 and 2013, I made multiple trips to the Epand lab in Hamilton in order to do experiments with Richard. We wanted to know how the enzyme tafazzin selects its lipid substrates. He and I worked side by side for 1-2 days at a time, interrupted only by short walks to the NMR suite where our data would be collected. After each such visit, we had a trove of new information, which we would discuss and analyze over the weeks to come. It was one of the most intense, creative, and successful periods in my career.

The contributions that Richard made during this time were absolutely essential and had a lasting impact on the field. He later continued his research on Barth syndrome and discovered an abnormal ether lipid metabolism. I am forever grateful that Richard got involved in Barth research. The field would not be where it is without him."
 

"I have some wonderful stories of the work  Richard, Raquel and I would be doing on Sat mornings in my lab. They would drove over, we’d meet up and spend the day doing AFM experiments looking at protein-membrane association, dynamics, etc.. it was a ton of fun -  Richard would be working on papers, Raquel making up solutions and prepping and me running the AFM..."
 

"I was taught by Richard as an undergraduate student. I took his membrane biochemistry course and LOVED IT!!! As a graduate student I relied on Richard’s immense expertise in making liposomes. Raquel and Richard were both very welcoming and helped me with these techniques.

Richard is an amazing individual, and I am so happy to celebrate his achievements."
 

"Over the course of his decades-long scientific career Prof. Richard M. Epand has achieved preeminence in the field of membrane physical chemistry, having made seminal contributions to our understanding of lipid bilayer organization and dynamics, with particular emphasis on the mechanisms of action of anti-microbial peptides, the formation of domains and rafts, and the effects of various important membrane-interacting drugs and compounds.  In such an overview, one would be remiss not to mention his hundreds of journal articles published, or their thousands of citations. Perhaps, however, the apotheosis of his contributions came with the publication of his monograph “The Amphipathic Helix,” which so brilliantly summarized and synthesized the theoretical and experimental basis for helical peptide and helical protein segment interactions with lipid bilayers, and the biological consequences thereof.  For me personally, it is the combination of this scientific rigour with his soft-spoken, humorous manner that renders him such an endearing and valued member of the scientific community."