Cancer Immunotherapy Pioneer Dies

Lloyd Old, a researcher and former administrator of two cancer research institutes, passed away this week.

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Lloyd Old and Steven RosenbergCOURTESY: CANCER RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Though the idea of trying to attack cancer by rousing the immune system has gone in and out of favor over the last 50 years, one man’s dedication to the potential of the concept helped fuel the research that is beginning to see success in the clinic. Lloyd Old, who stayed active in the lab even while heading the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and the Cancer Research Institute (CRI), died on Monday from prostate cancer at the age of 78.

“He was an intellectual giant,” Jim Allison current director of CRI’s scientific advisory council told The Scientist.

Lloyd Old started his career as a violinist, playing as an undergraduate in a string quartet at the University of California, Berkeley. While continuing to perform, he ...

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