Pioneer Member

Click here to read the testimonials listed on the Carnegie Science website

Rob Last – This is an excerpt of comments that I made at the celebration of Winslow’s life at the Plant Biology 2019 conference in San Jose, California.

In 2000 I chaired the Plant Molecular Biology Gordon Conference and invited Winslow to be the keynote speaker. He had retired seven years ago and, frankly, I expected a talk that outlined the last fifty years of plant photomorphogenesis, some anecdotes and remembrances of ‘the good old days’. What do you suppose we got that evening? Was anyone else there? He gave a wonderful seminar on the latest in blue light reception research going on at Carnegie, and the results of his collaborations with structural biologists, biochemists and cell biologists around the world! It was as remarkable as anyone who knew Winslow would have expected.

Story two, and this one is mentioned in my last president’s letter, co-authored with Mary Williams. In a memorable conversation, Winslow talked about how important downtime was to his creative process. He described how hiking, doing volunteer work at a nearby California State Park, or relaxing in a beautiful place allowed his thoughts to move in unexpected directions, occasionally leading to some new scientific insight. When life gets crazy, I try to remember the spirit behind these and other words from Winslow: drink in life, be invested in important endeavors and don’t take yourself too seriously. I will always remember Winslow for his humanity, mentoring and wonderful smile.