C. Thomas Caskey (1938–2022)
- Richard A. Gibbs1,
- Aravinda Chakravarti2,
- Evan E. Eichler3,
- Eric D. Green4,
- Richard M. Myers5,
- Anne C. Ferguson-Smith6,
- Kateryna D. Makova7 and
- Hillary E. Sussman8
- 1Human Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX; Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX;
- 2Center for Human Genetics and Genomics, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY; Department of Neuroscience and Physiology, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY;
- 3Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, WA;
- 4National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD;
- 5HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, AL;
- 6Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK;
- 7Department of Biology, Penn State University, University Park, PA; Center for Medical Genomics, Penn State University, University Park and Hershey, PA;
- 8Genome Research, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, NY
This extract was created in the absence of an abstract.
Tom Caskey (left) and Norton Zinder (right) in November 1989 at the Banbury Meeting, “The Human Genome Project: NIH-DOE joint meeting.” (Image courtesy of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Archives.)
A pioneer of the genetic code and then genomics, Dr. C. Thomas Caskey, passed away at the age of 83 on January 13, 2022 in Houston, Texas, after a brief illness. He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Peggy Pearce Caskey, his two children, Clifton Caskey and Caroline Caskey Goodner, and three grandchildren. He will be sorely missed by them and his many trainees and colleagues around the world.
The breadth of Tom's contributions to the fields of human molecular genetics and genomics during his approximately 60-year career is extraordinary. He can be credited for: contributing key work to decipher the genetic code (Caskey 1970); cloning the third human gene to be so analyzed (Brennand et al. 1982, 1983); discovering short tandem repeat expansions in human disease (Caskey et al. 1992); building a robust and ubiquitously used DNA-based human identification system (Edwards et al. 1991); founding and leading an internationally acclaimed academic department focused on molecular and human genetics; leading a division at Merck Research Laboratories in drug and vaccine development; and advancing genomic medicine in the clinic. Throughout all these endeavors, he was tremendously active in the community, both at the policy level and as an inspirational and collaborative scientist. He trained and mentored an enormous number of individuals, making an indelible impression on more than one generation of scientists. His influence was pronounced in academics, industry, and even outside the world of science.
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