Daly, Marie Maynard, 1921-2003

Dr. Marie M. Daly was an outstanding member of the departments of biochemistry and medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine from 1960 to 1986. Born in New York, Dr. Daly received her B.S. degree, magna cum laude, in chemistry in 1942 from Queens College. In 1943, she received her M.S. degree in chemistry from New York University, and in 1947, she received her Ph.D. degree in chemistry from Columbia University. She was the first African-American woman in the United States to be awarded a Ph.D. degree in chemistry.

Dr. Daly was on the research and teaching staffs of Queens College, Howard University, the Rockefeller Institute, and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She collaborated with Dr. Quentin Deming at the Goldwater Memorial Hospital in New York, and she came to Einstein with Dr. Deming in 1958. Her research centered largely on four areas. At the Rockefeller Institute she collaborated with Drs. A.E. Mirsky and V.G. Allfrey on the chemistry of histones, work that was fundamental in the field. With those investigators she also did important work on protein synthesis. Then, at Goldwater, and in her early years at Einstein, she did significant work on the biochemistry of cholesterol and its relation to hypertension.

In her last years at Einstein, she contributed significantly to the understanding of the uptake of creatine by muscle cells. (Creatine is an important compound in the bioenergetics of muscle.) Dr. Daly was engaged in teaching medical and graduate students at Einstein and was especially involved in recruitment and training of minority students. For many years she guided the careers of African-American students at Einstein.

Dr. Daly retired in 1986. She is remembered as a wonderful and generous person with a winning smile and dignified bearing. She was highly cultured and especially devoted to playing the flute. In later years, when cancer interfered with her ability to play the flute, Dr. Daly learned to play the guitar. She also was an excellent gardener and was devoted to her dogs. Dr. Daly was married to Vincent Clark, who predeceased her. She is survived by members of the Daly and Clark families. Dr. Daly died in October, 2003.