John Tooze

John Tooze FRS research administrator, author, science journalist, former executive director of EMBO/EMBC, director of research services at the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute and a vice president at The Rockefeller University.

Early childhood and education John Tooze was born and grew up in a terraced house on Thornbury Road in Perry Barr, Birmingham where he attended Thornbury Road Primary school. At his second attempt he passed the grammar school entrance exam and joined Handsworth Grammar School in Birmingham. In 1955 in the 6th form he won a State Scholarship and an Open Scholarship from Jesus College, Cambridge (BA, 1961). After leaving Handsworth School in 1955 he decided to spend 6 months working as a labourer in the cooperage of Ansells Brewery, Aston while waiting to begin two years of military service in the Royal Army Educational Corps in September 1956. He was discharged as a sergeant in September 1958 and after obtaining his BA from University of Cambridge he went on to earn a PhD in biophysics from King's College London in 1965 studying in the department where Maurice Wilkins and John Randall worked.

Positions with the journal Nature Beginning in 1966 Tooze had been writing under the byline "our cell biology correspondent" a regular weekly column for the news and views section of the scientific journal Nature. From March 1968 to Sept 1969 he worked full-time as assistant and later as deputy editor working with the editor-in-chief John Maddox.

Research administration Tooze served as executive secretary of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) for over 20 years and secretary of the European Molecular Biology Conference (EMBC). In 1982, he founded The EMBO Journal.

Personal life He was the father of historian Adam Tooze

Death Tooze died on 19 May 2021 at the age of 83.

Awards and honors Tooze was awarded the EMBO Gold Medal and EMBO Membership, both in 1986 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1994.

1986 Elected member of European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) 1986 Recipient of EMBO Gold Medal for contributions to promotion of molecular biology in Europe 1993 Elected member of Academia Europaea 1994 Elected Fellow of the Royal Society, UK 2016 Doctor of Science, h.c., Watson School of Biological Sciences, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York

Timeline 1938 Born Birmingham, England 1949–1955 Handsworth Grammar School, Birmingham, England 1955 State scholarship 1955 Open scholarship, Jesus College, Cambridge 1956–1958 Military service British Army – final rank sergeant 1958–1961 Jesus College, Cambridge University – B.A. honors 1965 Ph.D. biophysics, University of London 1965–1967 Postdoctoral fellow – J.D. Watson laboratory Harvard University 1961 Staff member MRC Biophysics Unit, King's College, University of London 1963–1968 Lecturer, Department of Biophysics, King's College, University of London 1968–1969 Deputy editor, Nature, London 1970–1973 Research administrator, Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF), Lincoln's Inn Fields, London. 1973–1994 Executive Secretary, European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), Heidelberg 1982–1993 Scientific Co-ordinator European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Heidelberg 1993–1994 Acting director general, EMBL 1991–2015 Trustee of The Darwin Trust of Edinburgh 1994–2002 ICRF director of support services, Imperial Cancer Research Fund 2002–2003 Executive director of research integration and services, Cancer Research UK (formerly Imperial Cancer Research Fund) 2003–2005 Director of research services, Cancer Research UK 2005–2013 Vice president for scientific and facility operations, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 2014 Retired

Editorships 1976–1980 Editor: Cancer Reviews, BBA, Elsevier North Holland 1979–1985 Editor in chief: Trends in Biochemical Sciences (TIBS) 1982–2003 Executive editor: The EMBO Journal 1991–1999 Advisory editor, Bio Essays, Cambridge, UK 1993–2003 Associate editor, European Journal of Cell Biology 1993–2001 Editorial board, Structural Biology