Endowment Fund Honors Former Chemistry Professor

Release Date: June 28, 1999 This content is archived.

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BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Joseph Vacca, who received a doctorate in chemistry from UB in 1983, has established the Peter T. Lansbury Endowment Fund in honor of Lansbury, UB professor emeritus of chemistry who was his research advisor.

The fund was created by Merck, Vacca's employer, with a $25,000 gift to UB, Vacca's beneficiary of choice.

Vacca chose UB as the beneficiary of the Director's Award -- given by Merck in recognition of Vacca's work in developing an AIDS drug -- because of the role the university played in his career.

"UB was where I learned to be a chemist and Dr. Lansbury was the driving force. He inspired me to be a chemist; he was a big influence on my career," said Vacca.

In addition to the initial award money from Merck, Vacca gave a $500 personal donation to UB, which was matched by Merck.

"Such a gift from a person like Joe, in the prime of his career, is unusual. We are pleased that he chose to recognize the special mentoring relationship with his research advisor," said Jim Atwood, chair of the UB Department of Chemistry.

The first Peter T. Lansbury Award was presented to Anand Vaidya during the UB Department of Chemistry awards ceremony last month. The award will fund summer research.

Vacca received the Director's Award from Merck in recognition of his leading contributions in the discovery of Crixivan, an HIV protease inhibitor. A Merck employee since 1981, Vacca now is executive director in the company's Medicinal Chemistry Department. During his career, Vacca has written nearly 50 articles and has received more than 20 patents for his discoveries.

Lansbury is thrilled with the recognition from his former student. "Joe was just phenomenal, the best of the best," recalled Lansbury, who retired in 1995. "He was highly motivated and had an unbelievable scientific work ethic. I had to deal with the fact that he was frequently one step ahead of me. It's great he decided to give back to his graduate institution."

Lansbury has had a distinguished career, serving on the UB faculty for more than 35 years. During that period, he was also a visiting lecturer at the University of Illinois and a visiting scholar at Harvard University.

Lansbury has been a National Science Foundation Predoctoral Fellow, an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow and recipient of the Jacob F. Schoellkopf Medal, awarded by the Western New York section of the American Chemical Society.

Anyone wishing to contribute to the Lansbury Endowment Fund can do so by contacting Pam Cardoza at 716-645-6000, ext. 1150.

For information on how you can help support the University at Buffalo, go to http://www.buffalo.edu/giving