Dr Steven Shire's Obituary
Dr. Steven J. Shire, 1947-2017On February 9, 1947 Steve was born in New York City, New York to Joseph and Ola Shire and was their only child. At the very young age of 10, his father passed away, making him the man of the house. His mother went back to work assembling watches to keep the family afloat. Despite these hardships, Steve continued to pursue his childhood dream of becoming a chemist, an idea that had been inspired and encouraged by his late father.In 1968 Steve received his B.S. from Stony Brook University, New York. He then enrolled in Indiana University at Bloomington where in 1974 he received his Ph.D. in Chemical Physics. Dr. Shire did his post-doctoral training at the University of Connecticut and upon completion in 1981 he moved out to California and began his career at Genentech as a Research Scientist in the Department of Protein Chemistry. This is subsequently where he met his wife Maria, a fellow Genentech employee in 1981. They married in 1985 and had two children; Katie born in 1987 and Joseph, named after Steve’s father, born in 1991.While at Genentech, Steve was involved in the early work to isolate heterologous recombinant proteins expressed in bacterial systems. This led to the granting of a patent and served as the basis for further product development of proteins expressed in bacterial systems. During his tenure in the Protein Chemistry Department he used numerous physicochemical techniques to characterize Genentech proteins at various stages of development. He then joined the newly created Pharmaceutical R&D Department at Genentech, where he made enormous contributions to the development of protein formulation and delivery. In 1985 he brought the analytical ultracentrifuge to Genentech making this one of the first labs of its kind in the biotech industry. He has been responsible for leading activities for a variety of recombinant human proteins including Pulmozyme® and Xolair®. Over the years, Dr. Shire achieved over 10 patents for Genentech many of which have been cited in countless papers across the field.In addition to his contributions at Genentech, Steve was also an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California (USC) School of Pharmacy, University of Kansas and the University of Connecticut, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences. He also served as an advisory member for the Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences. Steve was very active with the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) where he was designated a Fellow, elected to the chair of the Biotec Section in 1998, and to the Executive Council in 2001.After 32 years at Genentech, now a Roche entity, Dr. Shire retired in 2013 as a Staff Scientist, one of the most esteemed positions within the organization. Throughout his career, he published over 90 reviews and original research papers dealing with various aspects of formulation and pharmaceutical development of therapeutic proteins. After his retirement he continued his endeavor and devotion to protein formulation, and in 2015 published, a single authored book: Monoclonal Antibodies, Meeting the Challenges in Manufacturing, Formulation, Delivery and Stability of Final Drug Product by Elsevier.In spite all of these professional accolades, some of Steve’s proudest moments were with his family. As a father, Steve always prioritized family time and education. Some of the things he enjoyed most were watching his children compete as athletes, with countless days spent at swim meets, water polo and badminton tournaments and volleyball games. He was a regular on the sidelines taking photos and cheering as loudly as possible. Since both Katie and Joey devoted most of their athletic time towards swimming, Steve became a USA Swimming Official – this allowed him to referee swim meets while giving him the best seat in the house to watch the kids swim.He also spent many weeknights answering questions on science and math homework and was there to cheer on his children as they received all of their higher education degrees; Katie completed her dual degree from UC Davis in 2009 and her MBA in 2015 from Santa Clara University while Joey received his B.S UCLA in 2014 and his Stanford University in 2016. Steve was the loudest cheerer in the room as his children walked across those stages.A kind and good man, with a knack for storytelling and a love for science, photography, sports and movies, Steve pursued his passions with the utmost vigor. In addition to these passions, Steve’s family will also remember him for being the true fighter that he was, defying all odds and medical issues for years. He was very proud to see his book published and watch his children go on to find both academic and professional success. In his final days, Steve celebrated his 70th birthday, Maria’s most recent birthday in June, as well as their 32nd wedding anniversary 3 days before his passing, and finally his very last Father’s Day.
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