Bill Text: IL SR0637 | 2017-2018 | 100th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Mourns the death of Fred August Kummerow of Urbana.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Passed) 2017-07-01 - Resolution Adopted [SR0637 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2017-SR0637-Introduced.html

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SENATE RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
learn of the death of Fred August Kummerow of Urbana, who
passed away on May 31, 2017; and
WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow was born in Berlin, Germany to
Helene Rieck and August Kummerow on October 4, 1914, while his
father was away in the German Army fighting the Russians on the
Eastern Front; in 1923, at the age of eight, he and his family
emigrated to the United States; he began school in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, not speaking a word of English; he graduated from
Boys Technical High School in Milwaukee in 1933; and
WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow was employed at Yahr Lange Drug &
Cosmetic Company, working 48-hours a week and taking night
classes four nights a week at the Milwaukee branch of the
University of Wisconsin, which was enough to make him a
sophomore at the University of Wisconsin-Madison when he began
there in September of 1936; he graduated with a Bachelor of
Science in Chemistry in 1939; he started his graduate work with
Professor Harry Steenbok, the discoverer of Vitamin D; he was
awarded a Master of Science in 1941 and a Ph.D. in 1943, both
in Biochemistry; and
WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow married Amy Louise Hildebrand on

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June 24, 1942; in the Fall of 1943, they left Madison for a
National Research Council job at Clemson University in South
Carolina; the job aimed to eradicate pellagra, a disease caused
by the lack of niacin in the diet, which was still killing
2,000 people in 1941; by 1945, only 12 people died of pellagra
because of the success of this project; he then took a position
as assistant professor in chemistry at Kansas State University
in Manhattan, Kansas; there, among other projects, he worked on
making frozen turkeys more edible by changing their diets; in
1950, the family, now with children, Max and Jean, and
soon-to-be born, Kay, moved to Urbana for a position as
assistant professor of food chemistry in the newly organized
Department of Food Technology (later renamed Food Science); he
retired in 1985 and continued to serve as professor emeritus
and adjunct professor in the Department of Comparative
Biosciences, where he was actively involved in research; he
served as Ph.D. thesis adviser for more than 60 graduate
students; more than 50 post-doctoral fellows also performed
research at the Burnsides Research Laboratory, a facility which
Fred Kummerow built and headed on the University of Illinois
campus; and
WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow was an author or co-author of
approximately 450 peer-reviewed papers; the Burnsides Lab was
an international enterprise with students and professors from
at least 14 different countries working there over the years;

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he was awarded over $16 million in research grants and had
several million dollars of grants since his retirement to
support his research; he authored a book of nutritional advice
with his daughter, Jean, entitled "Cholesterol is Not the
Culprit"; and
WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow published a paper on the negative
heart health effects of trans fats in 1957 and had been
concerned about their effects ever since; he served on the
American Heart Association Diet Committee in 1968; and
WHEREAS, In 2009, at age 95, Fred Kummerow filed a Citizens
Petition with the Food and Drug Administration to ban trans fat
entirely; in 2014, after no action was taken, a lawsuit was
filed on his behalf; he was delighted and vindicated when the
FDA finally agreed that trans fats were dangerous and announced
their ban in 2015; slowly, nutritional and political
communities have come towards his point of view; he received
worldwide publicity for his work on trans fats, including
articles in the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the
Washington Post, along with features by Al Jazeera, a Korean
television network, and the University of Illinois; never one
to slow down, he then began research on the effects of diet on
Alzheimer's disease; and
WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow received several awards for his

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research, including a "Scientist of Integrity" award from the
Weston Price Foundation; his intelligence and insight remained
quite strong, even after he reached the age of 102; he followed
politics avidly, writing numerous letters to public officials,
and advocating for peace and green energy; he felt that
spreading scientific knowledge throughout the world and
feeding people enough of the right foods would go a long way
towards promoting better health and longer lives; and
WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow supported his wife's political and
community activities, including Planned Parenthood and the
Democratic Party; he agreed with her liberal politics and was
proud when she was one of the first women elected to the
Champaign County Board, where she served for 20 years; and
WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow and his wife loved to travel; he
visited laboratories in Western and Eastern Europe, Japan,
India, Israel, China, Australia, and Cuba and presented
research at conferences all over the world; they also loved
going to the opera, especially LaBoheme; and
WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow was preceded in death by his wife,
Amy, and his brother, Werner; and
WHEREAS, Fred Kummerow is survived by his children, Max
(Ellen Jacobsen-Isserman), Jean (Frank Mabley), and Kay (Ron

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Mengarelli); his grandchildren, Elizabeth Loban, Robert Loban,
and Patrick Watson; his great-grandson, Asher Watson; and
numerous nieces and nephews; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL
ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of
Fred August Kummerow, and extend our sincere condolences to his
family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it
further
RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
presented to the family of Fred Kummerow as an expression of
our deepest sympathy.