Wolfram Hörz 1944–2005

Fields of research are frequently cultivated by a few scientific entrepreneurs whose vision and drive inspire the rest of us. The analysis of chroma-tin structure and function has profited immensely from leaders such as Wolf-ram Hörz. The yeast PHO5 promoter model developed by Wolfram Hörz has become a paradigm for dissecting the events underlying promoter-specific chro-matin opening in response to environmental cues. His elucidation of such events has yielded reference points for numerous followup studies investigating the emerging principles of gene regulation through chroma-tin reconfiguration. Wolfram Hörz died on November 13, 2005 from colon carcinoma and associated metastases. The news of his premature death found many of his colleagues unprepared for this loss. The field of chro-matin remodeling has lost not only one of its scientific leaders but also an unusually amiable colleague. Wolfram Hörz was born in Nürtingen, a small town in Southern Germany, on April 4, 1944. His parents were teachers at the local high school that Wolfram and his brother attended. Guided by his talent and perhaps the example of his brother and uncle, who had become medical doctors, Wolfram chose to study medicine at a local traditional university, the University of Tübingen, in 1963. He passed all of the preclini-cal medical exams with top grades and then decided to widen his horizons. During a semester in Vienna, his intense studies were alleviated by frequent visits to the opera. The next six months found him studying in Hamburg, perhaps hoping that he would find time for the occasional sailing trip. Although his medical studies were very successful , he felt increasingly pulled toward research. He obtained a Fulbright fellowship in 1966, which supported his biochemistry studies at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. It was here that he met his future wife, Welda. In 1968 she planned a six month study visit to Germany and wanted to learn more from the German student about his home country. Wolfram generously shared his knowledge, and soon she regretted her commitment to the six month trip, wishing instead that she had stayed in Durham. During the following months of intense correspondence, they realized that they were meant for each other, and they married in 1969. Wolfram pursued a PhD in biochemistry on the initiation of translation in reticulocyte extracts, under the guidance of Kenneth McCarty at Duke University. As he wished to continue his studies on RNA translation, he applied …