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1 Institute of Gerontology, Geriatrics Center, University of Michigan School of Medicine.
2 Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
Address correspondence to Richard C. Adelman, PhD, 651 N. 5th Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48104. E-mail: radelman{at}umich.edu
BECAUSE Vince loved and honored the pursuit of new scientific knowledge, we celebrate his professional life herein. His accomplishments in gerontology abound, selected highlights of which we present below. However, before doing so, we address the characteristics of Vince as a scientist as well as a person. He vigorously sought truth and he carefully evaluated views that were not in accord with his own. He recognized that empirical evidence ultimately has to be the final arbiter. For example, Vince was long an advocate of cell senescence in culture as a model for the study of aging. He responded to criticisms of this model with carefully executed studies that were a hallmark of his laboratory. These studies demonstrated that there is no relationship between the age of the donor and the replicative ability of cells in culture (1), and that the body size of a species rather than longevity is the primary correlate of the proliferative potential of its cells in culture (2). These findings challenged major pieces of evidence in support of the cell culture senescence model. Yet when asked to identify which of his many research papers he most valued (3), Vince chose Reference 1. What better testimony to the character of a colleague with whom we shared an indefatigable bond of mutual respect, trust, and affection for almost half a century.
Vince's education and research training began with his BS in Biology/Chemistry from St. Joseph's College (1951–1955). His graduate studies include an MA in Physiology from Temple University (1956–1958) and a PhD as a National Science Foundation Fellow in Physiology/Biochemistry from the University of Delaware (1958–1962). His postdoctoral research training (1961–1963) as a U.S. Public Health Service Fellow addressed hepatoma biochemistry in the laboratory of Sidney Weinhouse at the Fels Research Institute of the Temple University School of Medicine.
His interest in gerontology began during those postdoctoral years in Philadelphia. He was stimulated by the potential of Leonard Hayflick's pioneering studies on the limited proliferative capacity of cultures of normal diploid human cells (4) that were underway at the same time across town at the Wistar Institute. In 1963, he accepted a faculty appointment at the Wistar Institute where he initially worked to expand Hayflick's studies on cellular aging in a biochemical direction, and then he launched his own independent research career. Vince always went out of his way to attribute his choice of gerontology as a research career path to the exhilarating atmosphere that pervaded the Hayflick laboratory. He also frequently acknowledged the invitation from Bernard Strehler to prepare a still-useful book chapter (5) that delineated the major questions of in vitro aging.
Within the next few years, Hayflick then relocated to Stanford University, whereupon Vince inherited his gerontological presence at the Wistar Institute. Vince soon achieved his own current status as one of gerontology's scientific giants; whether measured in terms of his 170 peer-reviewed research articles, more than 100 review papers, 15 edited books, and more than two decades of continuous research support from the National Institute on Aging as well as other public and private funding agencies. A separate publication describes the simultaneous launching of Vince's independent career in gerontological research about the same time as the two of us, as well as Jay Roberts and George Baker, each at four different Philadelphia institutions; the extraordinary intermingling of these programs led to what was dubbed in some gerontologic circles as "the Philadelphia Mafia" (3).
A selected sampling of his diverse array of appointments, honors, and related activities include the following. He worked his way up the faculty ranks from Associate to Professor at the Wistar Institute (1963–1990); from Assistant Professor to tenured Full Professor of Animal Biology and Director of the Center for the Study of Aging at the University of Pennsylvania (1967–1990); and subsequently also served as the Audrey Meyer Mars Professor of Gerontological Research and Director of the Institute on Aging at the Allegheny University of Health Sciences (1990–1999); Vice Provost for Research at the Medical College of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann University (1994–1999); and President of the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research and Senior Vice President of Main Line Health (1999–2006).
His honors and related activities include appointment to several different NIH Study Sections and Veterans Administration Research Review Committees; to membership on several Committees of the National Academy of Sciences; national research awards from The Gerontological Society of America (Kleemeier, Brookdale), National Institute on Aging (Geriatric Leadership), American Federation for Aging Research (Irving S. Wright), Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation (Research Recognition), and American Aging Association (Denham Harmon); elected Presidency of The Gerontological Society of America and the American Federation for Aging Research; and election to Fellowship of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and L'Accademia dei Sepolti.
He also served as Editor of the Journal of Gerontology (Biological Sciences), and as a member of the Editorial Boards of The Gerontologist, Mechanisms of Aging and Development, Cell Biology International Reports, The Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Experimental Aging Research, Experimental Gerontology, The Journal of Cellular Physiology, Aging (Clinical and Experimental Research), Experimental Cell Research, Methods in Cell Science, AGE, In Vitro Cellular and Developmental Biology—Animal, and the Journal of Anti-Aging Medicine; and was elected to the Chairmanship of the Gordon Research Conference on the Biology of Aging.
There also was a special place in Vince's heart for the mentoring and guidance of others. It was impossible to determine who admired whom more; that is, Vince or his research fellows. He was equally generous with young and already established investigators who sought him out to learn the technical intricacies of growing cells in culture. Whether formally assigned by funding agencies or invited by his peers to evaluate proposals, he always presented his critiques in a context of shared enlightenment rather than confrontation.
We already miss Vince's physical presence. However, we prefer to celebrate his many contributions to science rather than to mourn his passing. The "Philadelphia Mafia" bond that links the three of us transcends mortality. Fond memories of him and how we nurtured and challenged one another will continue to endure with pride and smiles.
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It is with great sadness that I learned that Vincent Cristofalo passed away in early May 2006. Vince had been one of the "giants" in the field of biogerontology from its emergence in the 1970s and its subsequent maturation from a mostly descriptive science to an increasingly mechanistic one during the 1980s and 1990s. We will all miss his presence at the annual GSA and other scientific meetings, on review panels, at editorial board meetings, and in the literature. He will be long remembered for his many contributions, both personal and professional, which have been highlighted by colleagues Richard Adelman and Edward Masoro, and I would like to honor those contributions by dedicating this issue of the Journal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences to his memory.
Huber R. Warner, Editor
May 17, 2006 
References
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