Norman K. Wessells, pioneering Stanford biologist, has died

Norman K. Wessells, professor of biological sciences, emeritus, former dean of Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences, and a beloved teacher who unlocked an understanding of the biological building blocks of life itself, died at his home in Eugene, Oregon on Sept. 20, 2023. He was 91.

Wessells was both a pioneering researcher and a revered professor. As a scientist, he was known for his work on cellular biology and his studies that helped shape the field of developmental biology. Notably, he was lead author on a paper published in the journal Science in 1971 that discussed the role of the protein fibers and molecules that give cells shape and structure (cellular parts collectively known as the cytoskeleton) and the behavior of growing regions that affect the development of nerve fibers (axons). This paper garnered more than 1,700 citations, and more than 50 years later it is still being cited.

Around this same time, his work on the proteins and molecules that surround cells (known as extracellular material) with pediatrician and cell biologist Merton Bernfield, former director of the Program in Human Biology in H&S, helped define the field of developmental biology. Their research has been crucial for studies of how and when cancer cells travel from one area to another (metastasis) to form new tumors and the process of wound healing and recovery from significant burns.

Wessells was a gifted educator—one former student called him “an artist at the chalkboard”—who earned Stanford's highest honor for excellence in teaching.

“I met him on my very first visit to campus,” said his former colleague, H. Craig Heller, the Lorry I. Lokey/Business Wire Professor in H&S. “Besides being a kind and generous person, I remember Norm as a truly integrative biologist and amazing teacher. He inspired me to do my best to emulate him.”

A wise and knowing teacher and administrator

Wessells served as chair of the Department of Biology from 1971 to 1978, acting director of Hopkins Marine Station from 1973 to 1976, and assistant dean of H&S from 1977 to 1981. He was dean of H&S from 1981 to 1988.

“Norm Wessells introduced me to the world of academic administration when I served under him in the School of Humanities and Sciences from 1982 to 1985,” said William Chace, honorary professor of English, emeritus, at Stanford, and later president of Emory University. “He did so with patience, with fairness, and with a keen sense of the human complexities of our collective work. I have never had so wise and knowing a teacher.”

Wessells helped preserve two key Stanford resources: Hopkins Marine Station and Jasper Ridge, in both cases by leading committees that convinced Stanford leadership of the two locations’ value and potential. Wessells lobbied senior leadership for funds to hire several star faculty in H&S, including physics professors Douglas Osheroff, the J.G. Jackson and C.J. Wood Professor, Emeritus, and Steven Chu, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor in H&S, who won Nobel prizes in 1993 and 1994, respectively. As dean, he also helped implement the university’s affirmative action policies, creating guidelines to ensure uniformity across departments.

Wessells taught “Vertebrate Biology” and “Developmental Biology,” two courses commonly taken by students as preparation for medical school. He wrote numerous letters of recommendation for his students who wished to pursue careers in medicine. “I just got a lot of positive feedback for investing the time, and it was worth it,” Wessells said in a 2018 Stanford Oral History interview.

Many of his graduate students were sole author on the publications related to their theses work. His reluctance to add his name to their papers reflected his confidence in their work and their autonomy. It also cut Wessells’ list of publications by roughly half.

“Norm was an artist at the chalkboard,” said Ellen Porzig, Wessells’ former student and professor (teaching) of developmental biology, emerita, in the department of developmental biology in Stanford Medicine. “Arriving at the auditorium in advance of the 8 a.m. lectures, Norm would fill the multiple sliding blackboards with detailed sketches of fish fins and tails, countercurrent exchange, tetrapod jaws, bird feathers, and bat wings. Norm valued the outstanding potential of Stanford undergraduates and was an exemplary teacher throughout his 26 years on the faculty.”

Forever curious

Born in 1932 in Jersey City, New Jersey, Wessells grew up with a room full of books, stocked by two avid readers: his parents. “I came into biology not from the point of view of natural history, but ultimately from a curiosity about form and function in living things,”  he said in the oral history. Wessells entered Yale in 1950 and was the first person in his family to go to college.

He was an officer in the U.S. Navy Service Corps from 1954 to 1956. He earned his doctorate from Yale in zoology in 1960 and became an assistant professor at Stanford in 1962. He was the author of more than 80 peer-reviewed papers and author or co-author of 10 books, including two books that were influential in his field, Tissue Interactions in Development: Addison-Wesley Module in Anthropology (Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1973) and Tissue Interactions and Development: Elements of Human Genetics (W.A. Benjamin, 1977).

Wessells received several awards including a Guggenheim fellowship in 1975, the Herman Beerman Award from the Society for Investigative Dermatology in 1970, and the Walter J. Gores Award for excellence in teaching in 1973.

Of his many awards and honors, the Walter J. Gores Award for teaching was particularly meaningful for Wessells.

“I am prouder of that award than just about anything in my career,” said Wessells in the 2018 interview.

Norman Wessells is survived by his wife Catherine (Briggs) Wessells; their children, Colin and Elizabeth; his children from his first marriage to Lois Watson (d.1984), Christopher, Stephen, and Philip; four grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and sister, Grace Daley.