Louis Anthony Kazal, Ph.D., age 107, died on Thursday January 9, 2020, at The Village (assisted living) in White River Junction, VT.

Born on July 2, 1912, in Newark, NJ, Dr. Kazal grew up there and nearby Irvington and Maplewood. He graduated first in his class from St. Mary's High School, a boarding school in Orchard Lake, MI. Majoring in Chemistry at Seton Hall University, he received the Organic Chemistry Gold Metal Award and graduated cum laude with a B.S. in 1935. He earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Rutgers University in 1940 where he served as President of the Sigma Chapter of Phi Lambda Upsilon.

Dr. Kazal had a distinguished career, first in the industrial world, then in academe. In 1940, he was hired by Merck Sharp & Dohme (West Point, PA) as a research biochemist and became Director of Biological Development. In 1956, Dr. Kazal joined the Cardeza Foundation for Hematologic Research of Thomas Jefferson University (Philadelphia) as a research scientist in physiology and hematology. During his 22-year academic career, he rose to Professor of Physiology and Associate Professor of Medicine.  Initially, he was Head of Plasma Fractionation, and from 1960 to 1979, he was the Associate Director of the Cardeza Foundation. Among his several discoveries was identifying the first trypsin inhibitor, a protein made in the pancreas, which brought him international recognition and to this day is still called the "Kazal inhibitor." Whole families of proteins are currently characterized by whether or not they have "Kazal domains." He was also at the forefront of investigation of renal erythropoietin activity (a kidney hormone discovered at the Cardeza Foundation, which regulates the production of blood).

Dr. Kazal received a number of scientific patents and awards in his career, including First Prize for the best publication in the American Journal of Gastroenterology for the year 1966. He authored medical book chapters and an extensive number of scientific publications and co-edited a book on blood coagulation. He was President of the Sigma Xi Club at Jefferson and an Emeritus member of a number of distinguished medical societies.

At 'Merck', Lou met his future wife, Marie T. Barry, of Philadelphia, PA. They were married in 1942 until Marie's death 73 years later in 2015. Lou and Marie raised four children in the Philadelphia area. His wife of many talents herself, including cooking and painting, kept him well fed, and he took great pleasure being surrounded by her many paintings decorating their home. They loved traveling, especially around the American West and Europe. Lou enjoyed maintaining their yards, tending gardens, repairing their homes, and undertaking major renovations. He was an avid fisherman, especially fly-fishing, and ardent photographer, always with a camera at the ready, and later learned to develop his own color film.

Retirement in Arizona led to rockhounding, lapidary, woodworking, and reading scientific texts for Recording for the Blind . In his 70's, he discovered how to photographically record the macroscopic structure of the inside of rocks without a camera, naming his innovation 'lithograms.' Skilled at identifying ordinary appearing rocks in the desert, which were in fact geodes, he split them, cut paper-thin slices of the rock, shined light through them in the dark lab and recorded the image on exposed photographic paper. He also cut and polished rocks to make bolos (western neckties) and jewelry. Lou was born with an ear for music. He could play just about any instrument, including piano, violin, and mandolin and any tune, even if only heard once, as well as compose his own music.

Lou is survived by his 4 children, Alicia (husband, Rich) of Augusta, GA, Louis (wife, Rebecca) of Hanover, NH, and 2 other daughters; 8 grandchildren, Alessondra R. Huckaby, Kermit David and Derek (wife, Gwen) Livingston, Ryan Ricci, and Erica Cronin (husband, Sean), Hannah (husband, Matt Carr), and Frances and Andrew Kazal; and 4 great grandchildren, Blake and Bryce Livingston and Taylor and Siobhan Cronin. In addition to his beloved wife, Marie B. Kazal, his death was preceded by his parents, Leon Kazalski and Anna Wojnarowicz, sisters, Irene Hamilton, Adele Kazal, Jean Kazal, and brother, Henry Kazal.

A private memorial service at a future date will be held at St. Luke's in Glenside, PA. Memorial contributions may be made to the Cardeza Foundation for Hematologic Research of Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, to the Rockhound Club & Mineral Museum of Sun City, Arizona, or to The Science History Institute in Philadelphia.