SR0637 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0637 LRB100 13159 MST 27555 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to learn of the death of Fred August Kummerow of Urbana, who passed away on May 31, 2017; and

WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow was born in Berlin, Germany to Helene Rieck and August Kummerow on October 4, 1914, while his father was away in the German Army fighting the Russians on the Eastern Front; in 1923, at the age of eight, he and his family emigrated to the United States; he began school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, not speaking a word of English; he graduated from Boys Technical High School in Milwaukee in 1933; and

WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow was employed at Yahr Lange Drug & Cosmetic Company, working 48-hours a week and taking night classes four nights a week at the Milwaukee branch of the University of Wisconsin, which was enough to make him a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin-Madison when he began there in September of 1936; he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry in 1939; he started his graduate work with Professor Harry Steenbok, the discoverer of Vitamin D; he was awarded a Master of Science in 1941 and a Ph.D. in 1943, both in Biochemistry; and

WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow married Amy Louise Hildebrand on June 24, 1942; in the Fall of 1943, they left Madison for a National Research Council job at Clemson University in South Carolina; the job aimed to eradicate pellagra, a disease caused by the lack of niacin in the diet, which was still killing 2,000 people in 1941; by 1945, only 12 people died of pellagra because of the success of this project; he then took a position as assistant professor in chemistry at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas; there, among other projects, he worked on making frozen turkeys more edible by changing their diets; in 1950, the family, now with children, Max and Jean, and soon-to-be born, Kay, moved to Urbana for a position as assistant professor of food chemistry in the newly organized Department of Food Technology (later renamed Food Science); he retired in 1985 and continued to serve as professor emeritus and adjunct professor in the Department of Comparative Biosciences, where he was actively involved in research; he served as Ph.D. thesis adviser for more than 60 graduate students; more than 50 post-doctoral fellows also performed research at the Burnsides Research Laboratory, a facility which Fred Kummerow built and headed on the University of Illinois campus; and

WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow was an author or co-author of approximately 450 peer-reviewed papers; the Burnsides Lab was an international enterprise with students and professors from at least 14 different countries working there over the years; he was awarded over $16 million in research grants and had several million dollars of grants since his retirement to support his research; he authored a book of nutritional advice with his daughter, Jean, entitled "Cholesterol is Not the Culprit"; and

WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow published a paper on the negative heart health effects of trans fats in 1957 and had been concerned about their effects ever since; he served on the American Heart Association Diet Committee in 1968; and

WHEREAS, In 2009, at age 95, Fred Kummerow filed a Citizens Petition with the Food and Drug Administration to ban trans fat entirely; in 2014, after no action was taken, a lawsuit was filed on his behalf; he was delighted and vindicated when the FDA finally agreed that trans fats were dangerous and announced their ban in 2015; slowly, nutritional and political communities have come towards his point of view; he received worldwide publicity for his work on trans fats, including articles in the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Washington Post, along with features by Al Jazeera, a Korean television network, and the University of Illinois; never one to slow down, he then began research on the effects of diet on Alzheimer's disease; and

WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow received several awards for his research, including a "Scientist of Integrity" award from the Weston Price Foundation; his intelligence and insight remained quite strong, even after he reached the age of 102; he followed politics avidly, writing numerous letters to public officials, and advocating for peace and green energy; he felt that spreading scientific knowledge throughout the world and feeding people enough of the right foods would go a long way towards promoting better health and longer lives; and

WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow supported his wife's political and community activities, including Planned Parenthood and the Democratic Party; he agreed with her liberal politics and was proud when she was one of the first women elected to the Champaign County Board, where she served for 20 years; and

WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow and his wife loved to travel; he visited laboratories in Western and Eastern Europe, Japan, India, Israel, China, Australia, and Cuba and presented research at conferences all over the world; they also loved going to the opera, especially LaBoheme; and

WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow was preceded in death by his wife, Amy, and his brother, Werner; and

WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow is survived by his children, Max (Ellen Jacobsen-Isserman), Jean (Frank Mabley), and Kay (Ron Mengarelli); his grandchildren, Elizabeth Loban, Robert Loban, and Patrick Watson; his great-grandson, Asher Watson; and numerous nieces and nephews; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of Fred August Kummerow, and extend our sincere condolences to his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Fred Kummerow as an expression of our deepest sympathy.