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Memorial – M. A. (Vic) Amer
ASSOCIATION AFFAIRS MEMORIAL M. A. (VIC) AMER The international dairy industry has lost one of its most loyal leaders and supporters. M. A. Amer, affectionately called "Vic" by his friends and colleagues throughout the world, died on Wednesday, February 1, 1989, after a short, tragic illness. Vic Amer was Senior Vice President, Science and Technology, of the Dairy Bureau of Canada and Chairman of the Dairy Nutrition Information Centre of the Dairy Bureau. Simultaneously, he also served as Auxiliary Professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology of McGill Universityas well as Adjunct Professor of Food Science at the University of Massachusetts and University of Nebraska. Amer was born in Egypt in 1944 and received the bachelor of science degree in 1964 and postgraduate diploma in food and agricultural studies in 1966 at Cairo University. He completed the M.Sc. degree in food science and technology at the University of Guelph in Ontario in 1969 and the Ph.D. in nutrition and lipid biochemistry at McGill University in 1971. To his colleagues he was a man of great ideas. He opposed orthodoxy and embraced innovation. He was known as a defender of the natural qualities of milk and dairy foods. He persisted in his belief in natural, unadulterated food throughout his distinguished career. Vic Amer was a very well-known and popular face among the dairy and food scientists throughout the world. He attended regularly the scientific and administrative meetings of the American Dairy Science Association, American Cultured Dairy Products Institute, Institute of Food Technologists, and the American Oil Chemists Society, presented papers at their meetings, and published extensively in their journals. Amer was recognized early on for his work on yogurt, which showed that the natural bene1989 J Dairy Sci 72:1942-1943
ficial bacteria used to make yogurt liberated higher levels of essential amino acids. The natural process, he found, resulted in a more easily digestible food, helpful especially to the ill and elderly. He was at the time of his death an internationally recognized expert on yogurt and its uses to prevent disease. Amer had a persistent interest in the scientific and medical aspects of fats. In 1973 he and his colleagues produced a "new milk" with reduced levels of saturated fats. He also did significant work on new types of foods, such as spreads combining butter and vegetable oils. He was currently discovering the new uses of fractions of milk fats and working with a student from the People's Republic of China to increase the calcium in pasta as an inexpensive calcium-rich food for the world's poor. His innovative work will play an important role in the development of new dairy foods in the future. One of his most distinguished achievements was the development of an unparalleled program of medical and technological research for the Dairy Bureau of Canada, a nonprofit organization of the nation's dairy farmers. He initiated the program in the early 1980's and carded it through to its currently world-renowned level of success and productivity. The research program, which will continue, is the most important program of research in the world on the preventive medical aspects of dairy foods. His research team included 43 scientists from Canada and other nations and is studying the health benefits from milk-related foods, from the role of calcium in the prevention of intestinal cancer and reduction of high blood pressure to the effect of yogurt on blood cholesterol to the role of lipids and vitamins A and D in human health. Studies designed to develop new types of foods from milk are also included. Amer directed the program with a strong sense of purpose and inspired all who worked with him. His impact on the medical and nutritional literature relating to milk has been strong; a quantum shift has occurred in the literature of preventive medicine of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. The program brought calcium to the forefront of research in preven-
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ASSOCIATION AFFAIRS tive medicine, and advances stimulated by it will probably be considered the most important progress in preventive medicine and nutritional sciences through the 1990's. Claude Chevalier, President, Dairy Bureau of Canada, said Amer "was a man of great v i s i o n . . , a scholar, a highly respected researcher recognized in the scientific world. His contribution to the dairy industry will be re-
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membered far into the future." Cedric Garland, cancer epidemiologist at the University of California-San Diego and a coworker of Amer, said, "As the sun sets on the stones of the pyramids of Egypt, you can still feel the warmth before the night settles in. It was like that with Vic Amer. You can still feel the warmth, the gentleness, and the light of the bright sun that marked his way."
Journal of Dairy Science Vol. 72, No. 7, 1989
ficial bacteria used to make yogurt liberated higher levels of essential amino acids. The natural process, he found, resulted in a more easily digestible food, helpful especially to the ill and elderly. He was at the time of his death an internationally recognized expert on yogurt and its uses to prevent disease. Amer had a persistent interest in the scientific and medical aspects of fats. In 1973 he and his colleagues produced a "new milk" with reduced levels of saturated fats. He also did significant work on new types of foods, such as spreads combining butter and vegetable oils. He was currently discovering the new uses of fractions of milk fats and working with a student from the People's Republic of China to increase the calcium in pasta as an inexpensive calcium-rich food for the world's poor. His innovative work will play an important role in the development of new dairy foods in the future. One of his most distinguished achievements was the development of an unparalleled program of medical and technological research for the Dairy Bureau of Canada, a nonprofit organization of the nation's dairy farmers. He initiated the program in the early 1980's and carded it through to its currently world-renowned level of success and productivity. The research program, which will continue, is the most important program of research in the world on the preventive medical aspects of dairy foods. His research team included 43 scientists from Canada and other nations and is studying the health benefits from milk-related foods, from the role of calcium in the prevention of intestinal cancer and reduction of high blood pressure to the effect of yogurt on blood cholesterol to the role of lipids and vitamins A and D in human health. Studies designed to develop new types of foods from milk are also included. Amer directed the program with a strong sense of purpose and inspired all who worked with him. His impact on the medical and nutritional literature relating to milk has been strong; a quantum shift has occurred in the literature of preventive medicine of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. The program brought calcium to the forefront of research in preven-
1942
ASSOCIATION AFFAIRS tive medicine, and advances stimulated by it will probably be considered the most important progress in preventive medicine and nutritional sciences through the 1990's. Claude Chevalier, President, Dairy Bureau of Canada, said Amer "was a man of great v i s i o n . . , a scholar, a highly respected researcher recognized in the scientific world. His contribution to the dairy industry will be re-
1943
membered far into the future." Cedric Garland, cancer epidemiologist at the University of California-San Diego and a coworker of Amer, said, "As the sun sets on the stones of the pyramids of Egypt, you can still feel the warmth before the night settles in. It was like that with Vic Amer. You can still feel the warmth, the gentleness, and the light of the bright sun that marked his way."
Journal of Dairy Science Vol. 72, No. 7, 1989