Marilyn G. Farquhar, PhD
July 11, 1928 - November 23, 2019
Dr. Marilyn Farquhar died on Saturday, November 23, at age 91.
A towering figure in the field of cell structure and function, Dr. Farquhar was Sterling Professor of Cell Biology at Yale University, where she worked from 1973 to 1990. She also held appointments at the University of California, San Francisco, including a role as the first head of the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine.
Throughout her career Dr. Farquhar pursued an intense interest in the kidney, particularly the glomerulus, cellular secretion, podocytes, and endocytosis. Her work enhanced nephrologists' understanding of glomerular pathology. Her research revealed molecular mechanisms of glomerular filtration, and while at Yale her group discovered that megalin was a target antigen of Heymann nephritis, an autoimmune disease.
A 2013 profile in the Journal of Cell Biology said that "few people have a perspective on cell biology that can compare to Marilyn Farquhar's." Her work at UCSD continued to influence nephrologists as she explored the molecular defects in signaling and trafficking that occur in kidney diseases.
For nearly four decades, Dr. Farquhar was married to a fellow renowned cell biologist, the Nobel Laureate Dr. George Emil Palade.
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