Edward Bresnick, Ph.D., was a perfect fit for the Eppley Institute when he was hired, and UNMC still is seeing the positive results of his tenure as director of the Institute, Barry Gold, Ph.D., says.
“Ed had all of the tools, and he was a take-charge person, which is exactly the type of person the cancer center needed at that time,” said Dr. Gold, professor and associate director of the Eppley Institute. “In the seven years that he was here, Ed made a huge difference.”
Dr. Bresnick, who directed the Eppley Institute from 1983 to 1989, died Thursday, March 27, from an apparent heart attack.
Dr. Gold was a member of the search committee that recommended Dr. Bresnick be hired. Dr. Bresnick was surprised that he was asked to interview for the position because he had previously given an unfavorable review to a UNMC department, Dr. Gold said.
“That the way that Ed was. He called a spade a spade. He was tough as a reviewer and a critic,” Dr. Gold said. “At the same time, he was very easy going and as wonderful of a person as there is. He was a great person to work for. I don’t think anyone who worked for him didn’t think highly of him.”
The Institute’s list of accomplishments during Dr. Bresnick’s tenure is long. They include:
- In 1983, the Institute received its first National Cancer Institute-sponsored grant, a Laboratory Cancer Center Support Grant.
- In 1988, the American Cancer Society (ACS) awarded the Eppley Institute with a Special Institutional Grant in Cancer Cause and Prevention. The award was one of only seven such awards in the nation.
- That same year, the ACS also awarded the Institute with an Institutional Research Grant to support pilot projects of young investigators.
- Graduate education at the Institute began. In 1988, the Institute received an NCI Pre- and Postdoctoral Training Grant.
- A significant number of quality faculty members were hired.
“He made virtually all the difference,” Dr. Gold said. “We had that NCI grant shortly after his hiring. They are hard to get, and we still have it. … I put him in the class of (former Chancellor) Charlie Andrews, as far as those who have made huge differences at the Med Center. We’re continuing along with many things that he put in place.”
Upon leaving UNMC, Dr. Bresnick served as chairman of the department and pharmacology and toxicology at Dartmouth Medical School and later was the director of that university’s cancer center. He then served as vice chancellor for research at the University of Massachusetts. After he retired, he worked as a post-doc in the lab of one of his former students, Alan Eastman, Ph.D., at Dartmouth Medical School.
Condolences may be sent to Dr. Bresnick’s wife, Etta, at 24 Stoney Brook Road, Bow, NH 03304.