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Flags on campus are lowered in memory of retired pharmacology professor Gerald Marks.

Born in 1930 in Cape Town, South Africa, Professor Marks earned a BSc and MSc at the University of Cape Town and a PhD in organic chemistry from Oxford University. He served as a professor of pharmacology at the University of Alberta and became Head of the Department of Pharmacology at ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ in 1969. His contributions helped the department grow into one that is recognized nationally and internationally for its teaching and research.

Professor Marks was known as an inspiring teacher and a mentor for students, postdoctoral fellows and younger faculty members, and was a recipient of the ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ Alumni Award for Teaching. He was also a successful researcher, making significant contributions to the pharmacology of porphyrin metabolism and pharmacology of the gasotransmitters. His work in the former has led to significant advances in our understanding of how some drugs can be activated to attack the body's mechanisms for drug elimination. His work in the pharmacology of gasotransmitters opened up a new area of research on how certain gases, such as carbon monoxide, are made continuously by the human body and how they regulate a wide variety of bodily functions.

A funeral service will be held Monday, Nov. 4 at 1 pm at the Jewish Community Centre of Victoria, 3636 Shelbourne St, Victoria, BC. It will be followed by internment at Hatley Memorial Gardens. Shiva will be held in the Harbour Room of the Laurel Point Condos, 225 Belleville St., Victoria, BC at 7 pm on Monday, November 4 and at 7 pm on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

In lieu of flowers donations can be made to the Kenya project, care of the Rotary Club of Victoria. For more information on how to donate email tdjones@telus.net.