In memoriam: Lucy Chang and Fred Bollum
Lucy Chang and Fred Bollum, personal and professional partners for more than four decades and longtime members of the ͵͵ and ͵͵ Biology, both died in the past year; Bollum on March 2 and Chang on Nov. 13. Bollum was 95, and Chang was 81.
Frederick James Bollum was born June 14, 1927, in Ellsworth, Wisconsin, the son of Frederick Edward and Helen (Bucholtz) Bollum. He started college at the University of Minnesota as a zoology major and graduated in 1956 with a Ph.D. in physiological chemistry. He conducted a U.S. Public Health Service postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Wisconsin. He then worked at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, as a biochemistry professor at the University of Kentucky Medical School, and as chair and professor of biochemistry at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland.
Lucy Ming Shih Chang was born August 20, 1942, in China, to Timothy Y.N. Chang and Florence I.C. Chang. She earned a B.S. in chemistry at Case Western Reserve University in 1964 and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Indiana University in 1968; she then pursued postdoctoral research at the University of Kentucky. She began her independent research career the University of Connecticut before serving as professor and department chair at USUHS.
Bollum joined the ASBMB in 1961, and Chang joined in 1974. Bollum was a member of the Journal of Biological Chemistry editorial board in the mid-1960s. During their joint research career, they conducted seminal work on DNA polymerases and discovered the mammalian terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase, or TdT, a specialized DNA polymerase expressed in precancerous cells and acute leukemia and lymphoma cells.
In 1982, Bollum and Chang founded , a biotechnology firm in Rockville, Maryland, specializing in diagnostics for leukemia and apoptosis research. They worked to produce and market monospecific antibodies to TdT. Certain cancerous cells express abnormal concentrations of TdT, making high levels of TdT-positive cells in blood and bone marrow a symptom of disease. Together, Bollum and Chang developed numerous patents related to TdT and other related enzymes.
Bollum’s many interests included music (clarinet and guitar), radio-controlled plane and boat models, astronomy, sculpture and cabinetry. Chang enjoyed knitting. They both liked to travel and spend time at their house on the Chesapeake Bay where Bollum kept an eye on the wildlife and the heavens with his collection of telescopes and binoculars.
Enjoy reading ASBMB Today?
Become a member to receive the print edition four times a year and the digital edition weekly.
Learn moreGet the latest from ASBMB Today
Enter your email address, and we’ll send you a weekly email with recent articles, interviews and more.
Latest in People
People highlights or most popular articles
Transforming learning through innovation and collaboration
Neena Grover will receive the William C. Rose Award for Exemplary Contributions to Education at the 2025 ASBMB Annual Meeting, April 12–15 in Chicago.
Guiding grocery carts to shape healthy habits
Robert “Nate” Helsley will receive the Walter A. Shaw Young Investigator in Lipid Research Award at the 2025 ASBMB Annual Meeting, April 12–15 in Chicago.
Leading the charge for gender equity
Nicole Woitowich will receive the ASBMB Emerging Leadership Award at the 2025 ASBMB Annual meeting, April 12–15 in Chicago.
Honors for de la Fuente, Mittag and De La Cruz
César de la Fuente receives the American Society of Microbiology’s Award for Early Career Basic Research. Tanja Mittag and Enrique M. De La Cruz are named fellows by the Biophysical Society.
In memoriam: Horst Schulz
He was a professor emeritus at City College of New York and at the CUNY Graduate Center in Manhattan whose work concentrated on increasing our understanding of mitochondrial fatty acid metabolism and an ASBMB member since 1971.
Computational and biophysical approaches to disordered proteins
Rohit Pappu will receive the 2025 DeLano Award for Computational Biosciences at the ASBMB Annual Meeting, April 12-15 in Chicago.