Edward Arthur Boyse. 11 August 1923—14 July 2007

Abstract

Edward Boyse was the consummate scientist. His interest was piqued by the unique, the undeveloped and the unthought of. When an area of study gained widespread attention, he moved on. The development of the field of cell surface immunogenetics, of which he was master, relied heavily on the use of Boyse's congenic mouse strains, and on his improved methods for reliable serology. He founded the new discipline of odourtype genetics, revealing how immunohaplotypes were involved in assortative mating and related behaviours, thus promoting heterozygosity. He pioneered the now crowded field of cord-blood cryopreservation and transplantation, conducting the first laboratory studies in mice and assembling the clinical team that performed the first human cord-blood transplant. An educator and protector of graduate students, he instilled rigorous scientific discipline while broadening horizons. Boyse was a pilot in World War II, a physician, a biomedical innovator and a demon squash player. A lover of classical music (which love he transmitted to his children) and the Beatles (love of which they transmitted to him), he strenuously avoided both the intellectually self-absorbed and the ostentatiously populist. In leisure, he flew, hiked, ran, biked and, periodically, upholstered. Wit, generosity and loyalty were the most prominent features of his unique personality.