https://doi.org/10.1177/0022034516689083 Journal of Dental Research 2017, Vol. 96(3) 241–242 © International & American Associations for Dental Research 2017 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0022034516689083 journals.sagepub.com/home/jdr In Memoriam William H. Bowen, BDS, PhD—Welcher Professor Emeritus of Dental Research, Professor Emeritus of Microbiology and Immunology, and Professor Emeritus of Environmental Medicine in the School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Rochester, as well as the 10th president of the American Association for Dental Research (AADR; 1981–1982), and the 67th president of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR; 1990–1991)—died on November 15, 2016, at the age of 82. Bill’s scientific journey was decorated with a series of remarkable scientific accomplishments that have had a pro- found impact on the quality of dental research. His defining characteristics included an unwavering demand for excellence, a thirst for intellectual sparring punctuated with the occasional well-timed parable, and “tough love” framed by an unambigu- ous framework of right and wrong. Bill received a BDS from the National University of Ireland (1955). He then began his lifelong association with the University of Rochester, receiving a MSc from the institution in 1959. More important, there he met his future wife of 58 years, Carole (Barnes). Bill subsequently received his PhD from the University of London in 1965. Bill held a series of prestigious fellowships from the Royal College of Surgeons of England from 1959 until his appointment in 1973 as the acting chief of the Caries Prevention and Research Branch, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute for Dental Research, National Institutes of Health. Throughout this time, Bill and his team made seminal contributions to the development and application of animal models that could be used to reliably evaluate microbiological, immunologic, and innate immune elements and dietary factors associated with dental caries, first in nonhuman primates and then with rodents. This laid the foun- dation for a career spanning more than 6 decades in which Bill and coworkers illuminated the virulence of oral pathogens and the host responses to these organisms through interdisciplinary work encompassing biochemistry, microbiology, immunology, vet- erinary medicine, food science, exocrine gland physiology, and mouse genetics. In 1982, Bill accepted his most complex professional chal- lenge, returning to the University of Rochester to accept the position of chair of dental research. The department had fallen moribund, and despite a remarkable prior history of training leaders in dental research who populated virtually every dental school in the United States, there was considerable pressure to close it. In Bill’s own words: The task ahead was indeed daunting. The faculty and staff comprised one technician and myself. The facilities and equipment were outdated and in disrepair. My goals were very clear. I wanted to recapture the essence of what was the core of past success. This could be accomplished, I believed, by collaborating with the extraordinary talent available within the University and in the Eastman Dental Center. . . . In a short period we had a major [cariology] Center grant and . . . training grant. . . . Thus, we were back on track to our roots—research and training. (“Brief History of the Department of Dental Research–Center for Oral Biology,” unpublished) 689083JDR XX X 10.1177/0022034516689083Journal of Dental ResearchMemoriam: Dr. William Bowen research-article 2017 1 Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland 2 Department of Orthodontics, Divisions of Pediatric Dentistry & Community Oral Health, School of Dental Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA 3 Secretory Mechanisms and Dysfunction Section, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA 4 National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA Corresponding Author: L.A. Tabak, Building 1, Room 26, 1 Center Drive, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. Email: lawrence.tabak@nih.gov Memoriam on the Life of Dr. William Bowen J. Clarkson 1 , H. Koo 2 , J.E. Melvin 3 , and L.A. Tabak 4