Obit
DURHAM ??? Dr. Wolfgang Karl (Bill) Joklik, born in Vienna, Austria on neember 16, 1926 died peacefully on Sunday July 7, 2019. The older of the two sons of Karl Friedrich and Helene Joklik, Bill moved, whenee was eleveneears old, to Sydney, Australia, where his father headed the Australian branch of the Austrian company Styrian Steelworks. He attended Cranbrook School and the Sydney Uneersity from which he graduated with a First-Class BS degree and an MS degree in Biochemistry.?? He obtained a D. Phil. Degree from the Uneersity of Oxford, England, in 1952, working in the laboratory of Sir Paul Fildes at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology. After a year???s postdoctoral work in Copenhagen, he joined the Department of Microbiology at the Australian National Uneersity in Canberra, Australia.?? nee years later, in 1962, he moved to the Albert Eineein College of Medicine ineew York, and in 1968 was appointed Professor and Chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Duke Uneersity Medical Center, a positionee held for 25 years. He guided the growth of the Department from an initial six faculty members to thirty-three whenee retired, and to a ranking as one of the top three Medical School Microbiology Departments in the country. Trained as a biochemist, Dr. Joklik was one of the pioneers of Molecular Virology.?? His work on the mechanisms underlying how viruses infect cells, multiply and cause disease laid the groundwork for the development of vaccines and antiviral agents.?? He published more than 250 research papers and reviews, and for 25 years was Editor-in-Chief of and a major contributor to Zineer Microbiology, one of the two leading texts for medical students. He was Editor-in-Chief of Virology, the primary journal in its field, for eighteeneears.?? He was a member/chairman of neerous Study Sections and Committees of the National Institutes of health and the American Cancer Society. His work was widely recogneed.?? In 1981 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, in 1982 he was elected to the Institute of Medicine, in 1986 he was awarded a Humboldt Senior Investigator prize, and in 1991 he was awarded the ICN International Prize in Virology.?? He founded the American Society for Virology and was its first President in 1982. He was President of the Americaneedical School Microbiology Department???s Chairmen???s Association in 1979. His career at Duke was similarly distinguished. He was elected a James B. Duke Professor in 1972 and played a leading role in founding the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center in the early sevenees; he was the first Chairman of the Cancer Center Planning Committee. He was a member of the Academic Council and of the Duke Uneersity Press Board, and the recipient of one the two 2005 Distinguished Faculty Awards from the Alumni Association of Duke Uneersity Medical Center. Dr. Joklik was a member of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, of the Rotary Club of Durham, of Hope Valley Country Club and of Grandfather Golf and Country Club in Linville, NC. He had two primary voluneer interests after he retired.?? One was Caring House, which provides accommodation for out-of-town cancer patients undergoing intensive chemotherapy or radiotherapy at Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center, the other was the Durham County Public library. He was a long-time member of the former???s board (of which he was president in 1995-1997) and of the latter???s Foundation.?? He played a leading role raisineendowments for both. Throughout his career Bill???s primary concerns were teaching, research and the mentorship and sponsorship of his close to one huneed graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.?? He maintained cordial relations with many of them for many years, promoted their careers assiduously with advice and personal recommendations, visited them worldwide, and greatly enjoyed return visits from them. Strongly rooted in two cultures, the Austrianeerman and the British/American, Dr. Joklik will be remembered as a true world citizen, greatly interested in international affairs.?? He was a life-long traveler and lectured in Uneersities and Scientific Institutes all over the world.