Ronald Oppenheim
Ronald Oppenheim died on January 7, 2021 after losing a battle with leukemia. He was born in Des Moines, Iowa, where he attended public schools (K-12) and received a B.S. degree (Biology, Psychology) from Drake University in 1963. He was the son of second-immigrant parents, a Swedish mother (Astrid Magnuson) and a Lithuanian Jewish father (Norris Oppenheim), both now deceased. In 1963, Ron left Des Moines for St. Louis, Missouri to begin a Ph.D program at Washington University, where his research mentors were Viktor Hamburger (National Medal of Science Awardee 1990) and Rita Levi-Montalcini (1986 Nobel Laureate). After receiving his Ph.D in 1967, he remained for one year at Washington University Medical School to learn neurophysiology. In 1968, Ron moved to North Carolina, where he established a neuroscience laboratory in the Research Department of the N.C. Department of Mental Health at Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh and was also a professor of Neurobiology at UNC, Chapel Hill. In 1983, he moved to Wake Forest University Medical School, where he established a new Ph.D Graduate Program in Neuroscience in 1992 and was its first director until his retirement in 2013 at the age of 75. His research on brain development was recognized nationally and internationally for which he received several awards, honors, and prizes and was invited to present more than 300 lectures at academic centers and conferences throughout the world. Over the course of his 50-year career, he trained over 30 graduate and post-doctoral students. Ron had a wide range of interests outside of science, including modern dance, music theater, films, literature (biography, history), and cooking. He was also an avid swimmer, tended a large vegetable garden each summer, and with his wife, Sherry, visted many countries and exotic places - their favorite, French Polynesia, in 2018. Ron is survived by a sister, Lyn Foshé of Ames, Iowa; three daughters, Lora Mitchell of Des Moines, Sara Oppenheim of New York City, and Vanessa Smith of Winston-Salem; five grandchildren ranging in age from 3 to 30, Levi Shephard Smith (3), Olivia Smith (6), Anna-Claire Hopper-Oppenheim (14), Danny Jordenson (27), and Ellie Jorgenson (30); and finally he is survived by his friend, companion, and loving and extraordinary wife of 35 years, Sherry Vinsant.