Thomas Spencer, Jr., research professor and New Hampshire Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, died on Sept. 30 in Hanover, surrounded by family. He was 90.
"A world-class teacher of organic chemistry and rigorous researcher, Tom exemplified Dartmouth's teacher-scholar model," Dean Elizabeth F. Smith said in a message to the Arts and Sciences community. "Students and colleagues alike treasured his passion for chemistry, caring nature, and unmatched ability to demystify complex science. He will be deeply missed and long remembered."
Spencer was born in Orange, N.J., in 1934 and raised in nearby Chatham. He earned a BA with distinction from Amherst College in 1956, studying chemistry and literature, and serving as a pitcher on the baseball team—three passions he would pursue over the course of his life. Spencer received his PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, where he did postdoctoral work before joining Dartmouth's faculty as an instructor of organic chemistry in 1960.
David Lemal, Albert W. Smith Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, attended graduate school at Harvard when Spencer was studying at the University of Wisconsin and recalls "a little story that foreshadowed the kind of chemist Tom would later become." Spencer accomplished a feat that stumped a Harvard team, Lemal says: He executed a synthesis of the alkaloid colchicine, "a tempting target for synthetic chemists because of its unusual and challenging structure, not to mention its interesting physiological properties."
At Dartmouth, too, "Tom chose important problems to attack and was never intimidated just because they were difficult," Lemal says.
Spencer was promoted to assistant professor in 1962, associate professor in 1965, and full professor in 1969. He served as the New Hampshire Professor of Chemistry from 1972 to 2004, when he continued his work as a research professor after taking emeritus status.
The author of more than 100 research articles in journals such as Organic Chemistry and Synthetic Communications, Spencer focused on organic synthesis as well as its biochemical applications related to cholesterol biosynthesis and regulation.
Profiling him in 1975, the year he was named the New Hampshire Professor of Chemistry, Dartmouth Alumni Magazine noted, "A sense of awe at the wonders of nature pervades the thinking of Thomas Spencer as he talks about his research as an organic chemist at Dartmouth."
Spencer told the magazine, "It is both fascinating and staggering to contemplate all the chemistry going on in us all the time. We are walking, talking bundles of chemical activity."
Spencer's enthusiasm for all things chemical made a lasting impression on his students. Fusing innovative research with dedicated teaching, he mentored many students who went on to become notable chemists. Barry Sharpless '63, a two-time winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, acknowledged, on the Nobel website, the influence of his unforgettable mentor.
"Thomas A. Spencer, a brand-new assistant professor of chemistry, arrived at Dartmouth when I did, and I was part of his research group for three years. Because Tom was so smart and such a good chemist, he could recognize not just talent, but the potential to do something significant. Because Tom was also born a great teacher, he was obliged to give a swift kick to my comfortable obliviousness," Sharpless said. "If some variables in my adult life were changed, I might still have made it onto these pages, but it never would have happened without Tom Spencer."
Chemistry professor emeritus Robert Ditchfield also recalls Spencer's gift for teaching. His "ability to convey the precise three-dimensional nature of complex organic structures on a two-dimensional medium, a blackboard, was unmatched," Ditchfield says. "When he and Professor Lemal taught Chemistry 57/58 (Dave in Chemistry 57 and Tom in Chemistry 58), the course was recognized by students as a very demanding, but wonderfully rewarding course. Enrollment in the course was capped at 50 students, and every year there was an extensive waiting list."
Spencer also trained many graduate students who went on to successful careers in academia and industry, such as Michael Garst, head of chemical sciences at Akrivista, and Janeta Popovici-Muller, senior vice president of drug discovery and development at Quotient Therapeutics. Spencer was also widely admired as a dedicated mentor to premed students, whose faces, names, and hometowns he memorized.
Among his many administrative roles, Spencer served as chair of the Department of Chemistry from 1969 to 1973. He also served on committees of the National Institutes of Health and the American Chemical Society. Additionally, he was a consultant to Mylan Pharmaceuticals and Merck, Sharp, and Dohme Research Laboratories.
Many colleagues fondly recall Spencer's signature combination of reticence and warmth.
"Tom had a surface veneer of brusqueness, but if one scratched just below the surface one found a wonderfully caring individual," Ditchfield says. "He would never use 10 words when five would suffice, but the five were chosen very carefully to convey succinctly the desired message."
Spencer met his wife, Patty, during their first year of high school. They married in 1956 and had four children and seven grandchildren. After raising their children in Hanover, they moved to Lake Fairlee, Vermont, and also enjoyed time at their cottage in Truro, Cape Cod. For the last six years, they lived at Kendal in Hanover.
When, after receiving his first Nobel Prize, Sharpless spoke to a chemistry class at Dartmouth, Spencer sat in the front row. Although by then retired from full-time teaching, he continued to pursue research into how unstable, positively charged intermediaries can survive to be converted into cholesterol. In 2023, at the age of 89, he submitted his final paper for publication.
The Dartmouth flag will be lowered on Monday, Oct. 14, and Tuesday, Oct. 15, in Spencer's honor.