Journal of Chromatography, 5 16 ( 1990) 1 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam

IN MEMORIAM: VERN BERRY

On July 20, 1990, Vern Berry passed away after a short illness. Given his enthu- siasm for separation science, this symposium volume is dedicated to his memory. Indeed, his final article was a summary of this meeting [LC ' GC, 8 (1990) 485 (Part I) and 546 (Part II)].

Vern Berry received his Ph.D. under my direction in 1972, the title of his thesis being “Development and Application of High-Performance Liquid Chromatograph- ic Instrumentation to Complex Mixtures”. He then conducted post-doctoral research with Heinz Engelhardt and Istvan Halasz in Saarbriicken. Upon returning to the U.S.A., he was employed by Polaroid Corporation for a number of years. He then moved to Salem State College to practice his first love, teaching. Concurrently, he was the head of SepCon Separations Consultants.

Vern was well-known in the separations community. He was at most of the major chromatographic (and recently electrophoretic) international meetings. Many of us vividly recall his uncanny ability to enliven discussion sessions at these meetings. Recently, he has written excellent summaries of these meetings for LC . GC.

The Vem Berry Memorial Foundation has been established in Vern’s memory. The purpose of the fund will be to provide an internal annual award for excellence in chromatographic research by a graduate student. The awardee will be selected by an independent scientific committee, and the first presentation will be made at HPLC’91, June, 1991, Basel, Switzerland. Contributions can be made to The Vem Berry Foun- dation, c/o Austin Wentworth, 326 Reservoir Road, Boston, MA 02167, U.S.A. The contributions will be tax deductible.

In his career, Vern helped to advance the art and science of separations. His engaging personality was very much appreciated. It is difficult to believe he is no longer with us, given his energy and enthusiasm. He will be sorely missed.

BARRY L. KARGER