Karl August Ernst Gaede Jaekel, Professor and Head of the Department of Biochemistry at the Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas (IVIC), died on April 8, 1980.

    Karl Gaede was well known to biochemists in the Americas for his enthusiastic support of the proposal to found the Pan-American Association of Biochemical Societies (PAABS). he acted as its unofficial chairman during 1969 until PAABS came into official existence in 1970 and gave PAABS its first major visibility by organizing the first Congress, held in Caracas in 1971.

    At the same time he was the founder and first President of the Asociacion Venezolana de Bioquímica, a charter member of PAABS, and now also the Adhering Body to the IUB from Venezuela.

    Karl Gaede was born in Glückstadt, Germany on January 11, 1913 and obtained his Dr. Med. qualification from the University of Hamburg in 1948. He published pioneering papers on glucagon and its role in regulating carbohydrate metabolism as an insulin antagonist [e.g. Klin. Wochenschr. (1950) 28, 388]. He emigrated to Venezuela in 1955, became a Venezuelan citizen and from 1958 to his death held his post at IVIC.

    Biochemical teaching and research in Venezuela was almost non-existent until Karl Gaede's arrival. Now it is flourishing, thanks to his efforts, and Venezuelan biochemists are solidy integrated into international activities. Karl Gaede's pioneering activities within and without Venezuela laid in the cornerstone of these achievements.
 

            Rafael Apitz-Castro (IVIC)
            William J. Whelan (IUB)
 

    Obituary for Dr. Karl Gaede which appeared in page XI of the Sepember issue of 1980 of  TIBS vol. 5 (number 9).