Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Society: Chapter Web Site

Puerto Rico - San Juan Chapter

All Chapter Web Sites

Dr. Sidney Kaye
1912-2012

The Sigma Xi Chapter at the University of Puerto Rico, San Juan is saddened to announce that their founder and first president, Dr. Sidney Kaye, passed away recently at the ripe old age of 100. Sidney was a pioneer in Forensic Toxicology and his research is responsible for saving lives.

A commemorative piece written by Angel Roman Franco, M.D. distinguished professor Dept Pathology UPR Sch Med:

The founder in 1967 of the Puerto Rico Chapter of Sigma Xi and one of the three original organizers of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, Professor Sidney Kaye’s career in toxicology began under Professor Alexander Gettler’s tutelage at New York University close to 75 years ago. Dr. Kaye earned his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry at New York University (NYU) in 1935, his Master's Degree at NYU in 1939, and his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the Medical College of Virginia in 1956. He was a research associate of toxicology at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in New York City from 1938 to 1940. The ensuing decades brought a succession of contributions by Dr. Kaye to the science and the profession of toxicology, especially in the field of analytics. During his illustrious and productive career, he founded and served as the director of four major forensic laboratories: the Toxicology Section of the Medical Laboratory of the United States Army, Antilles Department (1942—44), the St. Louis Police Laboratory (1946—47), the Toxicology Laboratories of the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office of the Commonwealth of Virginia (1947—62), and the Toxicology Laboratories of the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the University of Puerto Rico and consultant to the same until 2000, at which time he retired. Each of these laboratories, under his direction, gained a wide and well-deserved reputation for services of the highest quality and integrity, and for contributions to analytical toxicology and other forensic sciences. More than 150 major scientific publications contain the record of those contributions, ranging from determination of heavy metals through analysis of organic drugs, diagnosis and management of poisonings, and massive work on the toxicology of ethanol. He published five editions of Handbook of Emergency Toxicology, subtitled “A Guide for the Identification, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Poisoning,” which soon after its first publication in 1954, and having shortly thereafter translated into Spanish, became the most widely used emergency toxicology text. His magnum opus remains an intensely practical and comprehensive reference for the clinician and chemist faced with the urgent diagnosis and treatment of chemical intoxications. Interwoven with these contributions to the forensic sciences was Professor Kaye’s distinguished academic career, which spanned over 60 years, as a faculty member at Washington University School of Medicine, Medical College of Virginia, the University of Virginia School of Medicine, and the University of Puerto Rico Schools of Medicine. His rise through the academic ranks culminated in appointments as Professor of Toxicology, of Legal Medicine, of Pharmacology, and of Pathology at the latter institution as well as being recognized as Emeritus professor and Doctor of Medicine Honoris Causa by its institution’s academic authorities.

Equally exemplary was Colonel Sidney Kaye’s career as a soldier. First commissioned in the United States Army Medical Department in 1940, he served on active duty during World War II for more than 5 years as the Army’s ranking toxicologist in various assignments in the continental United States, Puerto Rico and overseas, and had a number of future leaders of the profession as colleagues, under his command. At the end of the war, as a major, he received many decorations for scientific contributions to military clinical chemistry and toxicology which up to this day remain in part in the U.S. Army’s Technical Manuals. He subsequently served as a reserve officer in the US. Army Research & Development Command, and later commanded a U.S. Army Reserve infantry division and a U.S. Army Reserve School. He rose to the rank of Colonel USAR and was recognized for his service with additional decorations, including the Legion of Merit. He served on the faculties of four universities, the last of which was the University of Puerto Rico where he had been a Professor of Toxicology, of Legal Medicine, of Pharmacology and of Pathology. He designed and developed the emergency toxicology services for Puerto Rico, and directed them for close to 50 years, and under his tutelage numerous students acquired advanced degrees in Toxicology and Pharmacology. For his unique and exemplary contributions to the fields of Toxicology and Pharmacology Dr. Kaye was awarded numerous medals and recognitions, both in the United States and internationally. Among these were the ABH Gradwhol Award, the Alexander O. Gettler Award and the Milton Helpern Medal, as well as the Medal of Achievement in the Forensic Sciences from the Universiteit Ghent, Belgium and the Certificate of Merit in toxicology from the Aristotle University, Greece. He was awarded two citations from the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and received the Medal of Appreciation from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.

Dr. Kaye, an adopted Puerto Rican for over half a century, passed away at the age of 100, and is remembered by his colleagues, students and friends as, in addition to his genius as well as his academic and scientific prowess, being a beacon of integrity and probity. A selfless man, he is remembered by all who knew him as a mirthful, caring and devoted teacher who dedicated a lifetime to the education of several generations of physicians and toxicologists. Throughout the world his meticulous work in toxicology over the length of his fruitful career undoubtedly contributed to preserving the lives of countless persons unknown to him.