David A. Yphantis

David Andrew Yphantis of Springfield, MA passed away on April 13, 2019 after a brief illness. David was born in Boston, MA, on July 14, 1930, the son of Kyriakos Paul Yphantis and Beatrice Hansen Yphantis. His parents were Christian missionaries and the family lived in Piraeus, Greece from 1935 until the family left Greece in 1942, during the World War II occupation of Greece by Germany, in an exchange of diplomatic personnel. He lived the rest of his childhood in Boston, where he attended Tremont Temple and met Lorna Nickerson, whom he would marry in 1954. At 17, he graduated with honors from Boston Latin School, won the National Science Talent Search and a Westinghouse Science Scholarship. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with an A.B. in physics in 1952 and received his Ph.D. in Biophysics in 1955 from MIT. David is renowned as a pioneer in development of research methods in analytical biophysical chemistry. He was committed to academic research and headed teaching and research labs at Rockefeller Institute, SUNY Buffalo, and the University of Connecticut. He continued his research at the Marine Biological Labs during summers in Woods Hole. He was a visiting professor at the University of Crete from 1986 until 2008. He and Lorna built a second home in the village of Stamnoi, Crete, where they worked and played and gardened for half of each year, becoming a part of a community of academics, locals and expatriates. David retired and moved to Springfield in 2001 after 33 years at UConn. His research laid the groundwork for important discoveries in genetics, pharmacology and immunobiology. His many students’ and colleagues’ accomplishments are also largely attributable to his originality and innovation in research, as well as his excellence as a teacher. This long and brilliant career was lovingly supported by his wife Lorna and balanced by their five children- Sandra, Peter (who died in 1989), Susan, Kim and Diana. He was a kind and generous man whose quiet sparkle and passion for justice made him beloved by all who knew him. He is survived by his four daughters, Sandra Records of Westfield, MA, Susan Edwards and Kim Yphantis of Springfield, MA, and Diana Butler of Ashford, CT, as well as seventeen loving grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at the Alumni Center at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, on Sunday May 19 at 2 P.M. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the American Civil Liberties Union. New England Funeral & Cremation Center, LLC, 25 Mill Street, Springfield, MA has been entrusted with the arrangements. Please visit www.nefcc.net

David A. Yphantis

July 14, 1930 - April 13, 2019