Dr. Stanley Katz, Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Microbiology, died on June 2, 2025. He was 94.
Stan served on the Rutgers University faculty for almost 50 years. He earned his B.S. at Upsala College in New Jersey and a M.S. in Organic Chemistry (1955) and Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences from Rutgers University (1959). He joined the faculty of Rutgers University in 1958 as an Assistant Research Professor and was promoted to Professor in 1967. Stan served as Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology from 1979 to 1990. He retired in 2005 after 47 years on the Rutgers faculty.
Stan’s main research interests were in agricultural and food microbiology, specifically in the development of analytical methods to measure antibiotic residues in feeds, animal tissues and food products. This was a theme that ran through his career. Antibiotic residues in agriculture and spread of antibiotic resistance has since become a major global concern. Over his career Stan mentored several graduate and undergraduate students in his laboratory. Most recently, before his retirement, he taught the undergraduate courses Food Regulations and Emerging Diseases, and a graduate course on applied microbiology.
At the time of Stan’s retirement his former student Mike Salvatore provided this recollection (published in the October 2005 issue of the Lipman Log): “I first met Stan in December of 1973. He was designated as my official advisor. Being a very green freshman and not knowing what to expect, I dress in my best clothes for our first official meeting to discuss my plans for the future. As I climbed the stairs leading to his third floor office, I saw this rather large man with a giant grin on his face dressed in a very clean lab coat. He had sugar on his face and two jelly donuts (one in each hand). Thinking it odd but, then again growing up in New Jersey I have seen worse, I shrugged it off and continued to look for Stan’s office. As I knocked on the door to Stan’s office I hear a voice. ‘Young man, are you Michael Salvatore?’ As I turned, I see this guy with the donuts again. I replied that I was and he said ‘come on in I have been waiting to meet you’. Standing there, Stan, me and the donuts, I didn’t know what to think (the thought did cross my mind that I was way over dressed for this encounter). He then said ‘Could you get the door my hands are full?’. I opened the door and he offered me a seat. He then conveyed the most important information that I will ever remember. He said ‘It is very important to keep you clothes clean, that’s why I wear a lab coat when I eat jelly donuts. Elaine would kill me if I got jelly on my clothes’. I knew right then and there that Stan and I were going to have a lasting relationship. To this day, every time I pass a Dunkin’ Donuts I smile. One other thing, Stan my be retiring but I doubt if he will ever stop shoveling it!”
As you can see from the photo below, Stan also enjoyed cake. We will miss him!
More information:
www.crabielparkwest.com/obituaries/stanley-katz