David T. Berman

David T. Berman, Professor Emeritus, age 90, died July 8, 2010, at Hospice Care, Inc. in Fitchburg, WI. He was born June 14, 1920, in Brooklyn, NY, the youngest of four sons of Russian-Jewish immigrant parents. The product of New York public schools, his professional course as a scientist was set at an early age as he explored the intellectual bounty of the American Museum of Natural History, the Brooklyn Children's Museum and the New York Public Library in his youth. He enrolled in Brooklyn College from which he graduated in 1939 with a biology major. It was also at Brooklyn College that he met his future wife, Rhoda. Confronted with the quotas imposed by medical schools on the number of Jews who would be admitted, and the still lingering effects of the depression on his family's finances, he enrolled in the Cornell University School of Veterinary Medicine, which offered low tuition to qualified New York state residents. He graduated from Cornell with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in 1944. This was followed by graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin where he obtained his master's degree and Ph.D. in veterinary science and medical microbiology. He then, in 1951 accepted the offer of a faculty position at the University of Wisconsin and embarked on a long and distinguished career of teaching, research, and administration, retiring in 1987. His tenure at the University included service as chairman of the Department of Veterinary Science from 1964--1968 and Associate Dean of Graduate School Biological Sciences from 1969 -- 1976. In addition, he served as graduate school advisor and mentor to scores of students, from this country and abroad, many of whom went on to make important scientific contributions in their own right. He also served as a consultant to the World Health Organization and the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, both of which requested that he serve as a member of expert advisory committees.   He was the author and coauthor of more than 150 peer-reviewed papers focused on infection and immunity in scientific journals. Although his research encompassed many areas of infectious disease and immunology, one of his major contributions was in the study and, in the United States, the eradication of bovine brucellosis, a highly contagious disease that infects both cattle and humans. In 1975, at the request of the USDA he chaired a commission to conduct a comprehensive, in-depth study of the brucellosis eradication program nationwide. In 1980, the United States Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the U.S. Animal Health Association and the Association of State and Federal Veterinarians gave its Animal Health Award to the technical commission and to Professor Berman individually as its Chair. In 1990, he received the Animal Health Award for the success of the graduate study program for federal and state veterinarians. In 2009, the International Veterinary Vaccines and Diagnostics Conference recognized him for his many contributions to research and graduate study in the field of veterinary medicine and for the remarkable contributions he made locally as Chairman of the Department of Veterinary Science and as an Associate Dean of the U.W. Graduate School. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Rhoda, two children, Morris, (Joanne), Sara (Emily Sample), two grandchildren, Mateo and Hector, his sister in law, Mary Berman, and many cherished nephews, nieces and grandnephews and nieces. Memorial contributions may be made to the University of Wisconsin Foundation, the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine or to the educational institution or charities of the donor's choice. A gathering and memorial service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 25, 2010, at Temple Beth El, 2702 Arbor Drive, Madison, WI.