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In Memoriam: Jack Gorski (1931–2006)

Swanlund Professor of Physiology and Cell Biology Departments of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, Cell and Developmental Biology University of Illinois and College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign Urbana, Illinois 61801

The endocrine community lost one of its scientific giants with the death of Jack Gorski, at age 75, on August 30, 2006. Dr. Gorski, President of The Endocrine Society (1990–1991), a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, was the Paul H. Phillips Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Biochemistry, Dairy Science, and Animal Sciences at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, an institution at which he enjoyed many years as both a student and faculty member. Dr. Gorski’s groundbreaking research in the field of steroid hormone receptor action, which began in the 1960s, involved the early characterization of the estrogen receptor protein and laid the mechanistic foundations linking estrogen-receptor interactions with the regulation of target cell functions. He was also greatly appreciated and noted for his exceptional contributions as an educator, mentor, and professional leader.

Jack Gorski received his undergraduate education at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. His exploration into the world of sex steroid hormones and hormone action began during his M.S. and Ph.D. studies at Washington State University with Dr. Robert Erb, where he characterized estrogens and progestins and their sources and activities during the reproductive cycle and pregnancy. During this period, his studies were enriched by his association as an NIH predoctoral fellow with Dr. Leo Samuels and the Steroid Biochemistry Training Program at the University of Utah. His expanding interests in estrogen action were further pursued during his return to the University of Wisconsin as an NIH postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Gerald Mueller at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research. Here, his studies with Dr. Mueller revealed the early effects of estrogens on gene expression and biochemical events in the uterus.

Jack Gorski began his academic career in 1961, as an assistant professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he remained for 12 very productive years. During this time, Jack attracted many excellent graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to his laboratory and made numerous observations of fundamental importance to our understanding of estrogen action. These included landmark studies on the identification of the receptor protein for estrogen and characterization of the synthesis of specific estrogen-induced proteins. In 1973, Jack was recruited back to the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where his laboratory continued to attract outstanding associates who worked with him to refine an evolving model of estrogen receptor action and to analyze growth regulation by estrogenic hormones in reproductive tissues.

Jack Gorski is best known for his discovery and characterization of estrogen receptors and for his studies over many years, which elucidated the intracellular pathways of hormone receptor action in peripheral target tissues, as well as in the brain and pituitary. His work on the estrogen receptor in the mid-1960s was the first molecular characterization of a steroid hormone receptor. This seminal finding, along with those of Elwood Jensen, opened the whole new field of nuclear receptors and their intracellular signaling pathways, an arena in which hundreds of scientists, in both academia and industry throughout the world, are currently involved. His early studies demonstrated the intimate association of the estrogen receptor with chromatin to activate RNA transcription and documented the continuing cascade of action of the receptors in the nucleus for long-term growth and biosynthetic responses to estrogen. His observations defined the temporal pattern of hormone-receptor interactions and how this related to the ensuing sequence of metabolic, biochemical, and physiological events in target cells. Further studies by Dr. Gorski and his associates identified a variety of forms of the estrogen receptor in cells, and studies in his laboratory on estrogen regulation of the prolactin gene and of other pituitary hormones in a variety of different animal species led them to propose new transcription activation models in which the estrogen receptor was centrally required for the generation of an active transcription complex. He then expanded and refined these approaches to elucidate the molecular interaction of estrogen receptors with chromatin components, including the use of a minichromosome system and reconstituted cell-free chromatin systems. The studies from his laboratory on estrogen-responsive genes, in particular, the prolactin gene, and on other pituitary hormones including the gonadotropins, were at the forefront of work at that time in understanding the role of steroid hormones such as estrogen in the regulation of gene transcription. During this period, his laboratory also identified mechanisms of estrogen-stimulated DNA synthesis and cell proliferation in both normal and tumor systems and described genetic susceptibilities for estrogen-induced tumor growth.

Jack Gorski’s approach to science was always insightful and broadly based and was characterized by inquisitiveness and creativity. One of Jack’s greatest contributions, his development and refinement of a model for estrogen receptor action, provided an important framework for understanding the diverse biological effects of estrogens that has served as a guide to those seeking to understand the actions of other steroid hormones. Drawing on his breadth of interests and expertise in endocrinology, biochemistry, and physiology, he developed novel approaches and cell systems for studying hormonal regulation and illuminating their physiological consequences. In all of these studies, he maintained a good sense of what was biologically important and of how best to approach these issues experimentally.

Jack Gorski’s record of training was truly remarkable. By his example as an outstanding scientist and a clear thinker, and through his approachable, unassuming, warm, and friendly manner, he set a fine example as a leader in the training of young scientists. Jack’s high sense of scientific curiosity—an active exploration coupled with the linking of molecular mechanisms to important endocrine issues in biology and medicine—proved to be the critical curricular element in a Gorski traineeship. Many of his graduate students, postdoctoral associates, and visiting scientists, numbering more than 100, are now prominent figures in research and professional leadership in the endocrinology community and have themselves made important research contributions. Throughout all of this, he also influenced many undergraduate and graduate students by exposure to his very popular endocrinology and cell regulation courses.

Dr. Gorski’s teaching and administrative activities also reflected his interest and concern with the development of young scientists and the future of science. He served as chairman of the Membership Committee of The Endocrine Society and the American Society of Biological Chemists, and he served on the American Cancer Society Committee on Personnel for Research and on the Committee on a National Strategy for Biotechnology in Agriculture of the National Research Council. He served on many committees of The Endocrine Society and was elected President of the Society in 1990. He was also active on numerous review panels of the NIH and the American Cancer Society and was on the editorial boards of many journals. He was widely sought after because of his broad perspective in approaching and appreciating science and because of his fair-minded spirit.

Jack Gorski’s outstanding contributions in biology brought him recognition from his peers. He received the Ernst Oppenheimer Memorial Award of The Endocrine Society in 1971 for early recognition of his outstanding work on the mechanisms of action of the estrogen receptor, and, in 1986, he received the Gregory Pincus Medal and Award. He was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1986 and a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1993. Based on his distinguished leadership in research, teaching, and the training of scientists, The Endocrine Society honored Jack Gorski with the Robert H. Williams Distinguished Leadership Award in 1987, the Fred Conrad Koch Award in 1995, and the Women In Endocrinology Mentor Award in 2001.

Those who were fortunate enough to have been associated with Jack know that he was extremely kind, friendly, and very down to earth. Yet his unassuming manner belied a high level of scientific curiosity and a youthful, questioning spirit. By example, Jack provided a wonderful model of a great scientist with a zest for a balanced and active life. Jack’s broad training in animal integrative biology was reflected not only in the use of diverse animal species in his research but also in his outside interests. He had a lifelong interest in dairy cows, even owned some, and was a frequent judge at agricultural expositions. He was also very devoted to his family and friends.

Jack Gorski has had an enduring, positive influence on the many people he has trained and on many additional scientists and colleagues who have had the privilege of interacting with him. All of his associates felt that they were part of a large scientific family that was actively maintained and supported by him throughout their careers. He will be truly missed. However, through the large number of his scientific children and grandchildren, Jack Gorski will continue to have an influence on the field of molecular endocrinology for a long time to come.

He is survived by his wife, Harriet Fischer Gorski, a son Michael Gorski of Stamford, Connecticut, a daughter JoAnne Gorski Alkire of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and five grandchildren.

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