Obituary Record
Reeves, Richard Edwin - October 20, 1995
SCIENTIST, EX-LSU PROFESSOR RICHARD EDWIN REEVES DIES.
Richard Edwin Reeves, a biochemist, inventor and authority on tropical medicine, died Friday at his home in Bay St. Louis, Miss. He was 83.
Mr. Reeves was born in Lincoln, Neb., and grew up in Farnam, Neb. He graduated from Doane College in Crete, Neb., and received his doctorate in chemistry from Yale University in 1936.
He then joined the faculty of the Rockefeller Institute in New York, and in 1938 the staff of the Boyce Thompson Institute. His work there on the structure of the carbohydrate molecule and cotton fibers led to several U.S. patents for improved cellulosic material.
In 1941, Mr. Reeves joined the staff of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's newly opened Southern Regional Research Laboratory in New Orleans. He remained there until 1954, when he joined the Louisiana State University School of Medicine faculty as a research biochemist.
He retired in 1988 as a professor of biochemistry and tropical medicine and moved to Bay St. Louis.
He was an authority on carbohydrate chemistry and the amoeba and spent many years studying amebiasis, a Latin American tropical disease, often visiting the International Center for Medical Research and Training in Costa Rica. He wrote may articles on biochemistry.
During World War II, Mr. Reeves invented a chemical formula to stabilize smokeless gunpowder and cut its decay rate.
In 1964, he became the first LSU Medical School professor to receive a career research award from the National Institutes of Health. He also received research grants from the surgeon general and the Army Epidemiological Board.
He received an honorary doctorate in 1977 from Doane College and the H.M. "Hub" Cotton Faculty Excellence Award in 1982 from LSU.
In 1982, the LSU Medical Center held the Richard E. Reeves Symposium, an international conference on Mr. Reeves' work on enzymes and amoebas.
Survivors include his wife, Jean Haver Reeves; two sons, William D. and R. Michael Reeves; a daughter, Judy J. Reeves; a sister, Lorraine Oman; and two grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held Friday at 2 p.m. at Edmond Fahey Funeral Home, 110 Necaise Ave., Bay St. Louis. Visitation will begin at 1 p.m.
Source: Times-Picayune, 10/26/1995