Paul Gladstone, 1945-2004: Researcher's Life Mixed Science, Improv

[Murray Charters <mcharters@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Paul Gladstone, 1945-2004: Researcher's Life Mixed Science, Improv
Peers found he stimulated new ways of thinking

By CAROL SMITH
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Paul Gladstone, a "scientist's scientist," had a knack for improvising, a gift 
that served him well on two different
stages -- one academic and the other theatrical.

A researcher in the field of immunology, Gladstone was also an early member of 
two of Seattle's best-known
improvisational theater groups, "Off the Wall" and later "None of the Above." 
He died last Friday at age 58 of
complications of Parkinson's disease.

Gladstone had an unusually curious mind, and was constantly "thinking outside 
the box," said Jerry Nepom, director of
the Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason, who met him when they were 
both graduate students at Harvard
University 30 years ago. He sought new research frontiers, moving from his 
doctoral work in fungal genetics to post-
doctoral work at the University of Washington in immunology, then a field in 
its infancy.

"He was an impatient scientist," Nepom said. "Once he discovered something, 
where other scientists would have bored
into it and filled out the puzzle, he wanted to go on to discover the next 
puzzle."

That approach suited the emerging field he was working in. His early work 
helped unravel how some of the master genes
of the immune system worked, Nepom said.

But that may not be his most memorable scientific legacy.

"With other scientists you can quantify their contribution based on number of 
publications," said Ed Clark, professor
of immunology and microbiology at the UW, who worked with Gladstone for 25 
years.

In Gladstone's case, he may well be best remembered among his scientific peers 
for his ability to catalyze new ways of
thinking and get people excited about them.

"He was kind of a free-agent scientist who, when you started talking with him 
about science, was more interested in the
work you were doing than (talking about) his own," said Clark, who recruited 
the young Gladstone to be a senior
scientist at Genetic Systems, one of Seattle's earliest biotechnology companies 
now merged into Bristol-Myers Squibb
Co.

"He was always asking very penetrating and thoughtful questions. He was very 
stimulating."

Gladstone, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's at 39, nevertheless participated 
in scientific roundtables and discussion
groups until about 18 months ago, when the disease finally robbed him of his 
gravelly voice and sly grin.

That kind of invigorating repartee is also what fueled his love of improv 
theater, which he took up more than 20 years
ago. Improv, based on audience input and its play off other actors, gave him a 
perfect outlet for his quick mind, said
Roberta Maguire, sometimes called the "godmother of Seattle improv" who met him 
after moving here from Chicago's Second
City improv group in 1979.

"To be good at improv, you have to really listen well and take care of each 
other," she said. "You can never block each
other's ideas. You're always building on each other. It takes a person of great 
generosity to do it well."

In fact, that's a good description of how he lived his life.

"He was brilliant, witty, sweet and opinionated," said Elizabeth Roth, his 
former wife. "He always wanted to know your
story."

One of his great frustrations in the end was finally being unable to physically 
care for his 13-year-old daughter,
Danielle, although he could still make her laugh, she said. "They were funny 
together."

Gladstone tackled Parkinson's disease, a debilitating illness that attacks the 
motor pathways in the brain, with
characteristic intellectual curiosity.

His interest in science dated to his boyhood in Queens, N.Y., where it was 
nurtured by a high school biology teacher,
said his brother, Louis Gladstone of Albany.

He never wavered from that path, even after an aunt tried to interest him in 
medicine, so it was an ironic twist that
it was medicine that claimed his attention at the end.

He learned everything he could about Parkinson's, but then moved beyond his own 
self-interest in better treatment, said
Clark.

He developed some new theories about how the immune system interacts with 
neurotransmitters in the brain, another new
field sometimes referred to as psychoneuroimmunology, and was so passionate 
about it that he taught extension classes
at the UW, many of them filled with fellow Parkinson's patients.

And he fought the effects of the disease, refusing to use a wheelchair and 
tinkering with his own treatments, sometimes
to the frustration of those who cared for him.

He brought an intense focus to everything he did, said Shelley Tucker, a poet 
and friend of 35 years. "He showed up for
his life."

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday at Bonney-Watson Funeral Home 
on Capitol Hill.

Donations can be made in his name to Parkinson's Action Network at 1000 Vermont 
Ave. N.W., Suite 900, Washington, D.C.
20005, or on the Web at 

P-I reporter Carol Smith can be reached at 206-448-8070 or 
carolsmith@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

SOURCE: Seattle Post-Intelligencer


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