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Matching the Promise
IUF Mourns Loss of Board Vice Chair Gus Watanabe
Release Date: 6/11/2009
Gus Watanabe
August 17, 1941 – June 9, 2009
Dr. August Watanabe, a renowned physician, researcher and professor who led research and development at Eli Lilly and Company for nearly a decade, and who was a pioneer in the study of the cellular mechanics of the heart, has died. He was 67.
Watanabe was Executive Vice President of Science and Technology and a member of the Board of Directors at Indianapolis-based Lilly from 1996 to 2003. He joined Lilly in 1990, and held several executive positions in the company’s research and development component prior to assuming the role as President of Lilly Research Laboratories in 1994. During his tenure as its head, the Lilly R&D organization more than doubled in staff as Dr. Watanabe recruited a number of the world’s top biomedical researchers to the company. Under his guidance, Lilly launched 11 important new pharmaceutical products and, upon his retirement, he left the company well positioned with a rich pipeline of innovative drugs in development.
On behalf of my Foundation colleagues, I want to express our gratitude and appreciation for the life and good work of Gus Watanabe, vice chair of our Foundation Board of Directors. Not only was Gus a dedicated and tireless worker on behalf of Indiana University, but he was also a man of great character. He was thoughtful and insightful in grasping and thinking through issues and their implications. He was a man of great intellect, and he was dedicated to service. In his life, he moved easily among the worlds of medicine, academia, and the public and private sectors.
The continuity he provided through his long years of service on the Foundation board was an invaluable gift to us, and we had great respect for him. He was a leader on our Board as he was in every other aspect of his life.
The world—especially our world here at Indiana University and in Indianapolis and the State of Indiana—is a smaller place without him.
—Eugene R. Tempel
President
IU Foundation
Prior to joining Lilly, Watanabe was a full-time faculty member of the Department of Medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine from 1971 to 1990. In 1978, he became the youngest Professor of Medicine at the university, and from 1983 to 1990, he was the Chairman of the Department of Medicine.
Following his retirement from Lilly, Watanabe remained active in the biomedical field, until his death serving as chairman of BioCrossroads, co-founder of Marcadia Biotech, partner in Twilight Venture Partners, and a director of Ambrx, Endocyte, QuatRx, and Kalypsys. He was also a senior advisor to Frazier Healthcare Ventures. He also remained active in the community, serving as a director of the Indiana University Foundation, the Regenstrief Foundation, Christel House International, and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
During his academic and research career, Watanabe co-authored more than 100 scientific publications and book chapters and served on the editorial boards of scholarly journals and as an officer in several national academic organizations, including the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association.
Watanabe received countless honors and awards throughout his career. He was also a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and the American College of Physicians, and was a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, and Alpha Omega Alpha, a medical honorary society.
Born in Portland, Oregon on August 17, 1941, Watanabe received a bachelor of science degree in zoology from Wheaton College in 1963 and his doctor of medicine degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine in 1967. He did additional postgraduate work in clinical pharmacology at the Laboratory of Clinical Science of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and in cardiology at Indiana University Medical Center.
Watanabe is survived by his wife of 45 years, Margaret Watanabe; his sons, Frank and Scott; six grandchildren; his mother Mary, sister Michi, and brother Ed. He was preceded in death by his daughter Nan and father Frank. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the National Alliance on Mental Illness or to Christel House International.
