Salem Medical Center, University of Heidelberg, Zeppelinstrasse 1133, 69121 Heidelberg, Germany. E-mail: Helmut_karl.seitz{at}urz.uni-heidelberg.de
|
Dharam Pal Agarwal was born in Lucknow, India in 1938. He received his PhD in Biochemistry at Lucknow University in 1965 and became Privatdozent in Human Genetics at Hamburg University in 1977. He also received a DSc in Biochemistry at Lucknow University, India, in 1999. His major area of research was genetics of alcohol metabolism. Later on, he also concentrated on the cardioprotective role of moderate alcohol intake. Dharam published over 160 contributions in international journals. He was a member of the Editorial Boards of various journals, including Alcohol and Alcoholism, Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, Addiction, Addiction Biology, International Journal of Human Genetics and others. He was author of seven books and received many national and international awards for his significant contributions to human genetics, including the Dr Vishwa Nath Gold Medal for the year 19981999.
However, beyond his scientific contributions and merits, Dharam was an extraordinary human being with an intensive interest in literature, poetry, music and radioplays. He also had a keen interest in anthropology and human evolution and was particularly interested in Hindu spiritual writings and religious ceremonies. From 1990 to 2000, he and his late wife, Krishna, organized annual Ramayan readings, in which the whole Indian community of Hamburg enthusiastically participated. Thus, Dharam was not only a scientific teacher and an academic person of outstanding quality, he was also a broadly educated, intellectual man and a wonderful human being with whom it was always a pleasure to be and to discuss scientific topics as well as topics of other origin. Despite his outstanding success, Dharam remained an extraordinarily kind and modest person. I still remember our last big International Congress, which was organized by Dharam and myself in Titisee in December 1999. He and his wonderful wife were splendid hosts for many scientists from all over the world. We all enjoyed this meeting in a friendly and humorous atmosphere, which was predominantly created by Dharam and Krishna. The death of his wife put a dark shadow on his own life and he suffered very much. With the death of Dharam Pal Agarwal, we have lost an extraordinary scientist, an intellectual cosmopolitan, a kind gentleman and a very good friend. His friends will always remember him and we promise his children, Kamayni and Prabhat, to carry his memory close to our hearts.