REVISED

Rosalie was a professional modern dancer who danced with Martha Graham, Pearl Lang, and others. She choreographed, performed, and taught dance for many years. She later switched fields and became a researcher and educator, earning a the degree of Doctor of Education from The Harvard Graduate School of Education in the field of literacy. Rosalie’s dyslexia research led to many published articles and three books. Rosalie’s book Reading, Writing, and Rhythm combines her background both as a dancer and a literacy educator.

Basically, when I was a graduate student and a post doc, Rosalie enjoyed being a mother to our two wonderful daughters, Julia (Feldman)and Jennifer (Fink). Rosalie had intellectual aspirations, which she realized more fully after our daughters were grown. So, everything worked out well for us as, both as a couple and as a family. Julia and Jennifer are happily married, wonderful mothers, and are both are very successful in their careers. And Rosalie and I are still happily married after 63 years.

Gerald Fink, geneticist, changed the field of molecular yeast biology. He is a professor of genetics at MIT, a founding member of both the Whitehead Institute and the American Cancer Society and a member of the National Academy of Sciences (1981). After receiving his Ph.D. from Yale University, he was a part of the Cornell faculty for fifteen years and also served as president of the Genetics Society of America.

In 1976, Fink’s lab succeeded in performing yeast transformation. Gerald Fink currently researches baker's yeast and explores critical pathways in cell growth and metabolism; applications include cancer research and the development of new anti-fungal drugs. He also directs a plant research group heralded for new insights into root growth and salt metabolism.

Although Fink grew up on Long Island, it was not until he attended the 1966 Symposium that he visited Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. In 1970, he began teaching the CSHL course on yeast molecular biology and continued doing so for 17 years. In 1999, he received the first honorary doctorate awarded by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.