Prof. David C Seldin died on 27 June 2015. David was a distinguished professor, brilliant investigator and compassionate physician. He was Professor of Medicine and Microbiology, Director of the Amyloidosis Center at Boston University School of Medicine and Chief of the Section of Hematology/Oncology at Boston Medical Center.

David received his BA from Harvard College and his MD and PhD from Harvard and MIT. His postdoctoral training was at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. He moved to Boston University in 1994.

David devoted his career to clinical and translational research, focusing on cancer and blood disorders, but especially light-chain amyloidosis (AL). He and his colleagues developed ALBase, the first publically available database of amyloidogenic light-chain nucleotide and amino-acid sequences, advancing web-based knowledge to investigators worldwide. He also created the first transgenic mouse model of AL amyloidosis. David directed many clinical trials of new drugs for AL amyloidosis. His contribution to the advancing use of autotransplants to treat AL amyloidosis is well-known to readers of Bone Marrow Transplantation.

David took special pleasure in working with students and young investigators. He had an extraordinary ability to critique, yet encourage their work. He developed and directed the graduate program in Molecular Medicine in the Division of Graduate Medical Sciences at Boston University and established courses in Cancer Biology and in Diseases of Protein Mis-Folding.

Among his many honors, David was appointed Wesley and Charlotte Skinner Professor for Amyloidosis Research, was a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Amyloidosis Foundation, was on the Board of the International Society of Amyloidosis and was Associate Editor of Amyloid, J Protein Folding Disorders.

David’s life was brief, too brief, but his impact was enormous. Colleagues, students and patients worldwide benefitted from his brilliance, kindness and generosity. Most remember him as a passionate Renaissance man who loved the outdoors, including hiking and skiing. He was also an avid scuba diver, wine connoisseur and LP record collector who built his own stereo system. (But who doesn’t? Most of us can barely figure out how to turn on the flashlight function on an iPhone.) But David is best remembered as a scholar and generous mentor. A kind, gentle man who will be greatly missed by many of us, especially his wife Elisabeth, daughters and family.