A founder, former President, and Trustee Emeritus of The Grass Foundation, Ellen Grass, died 6/14/01 in Quincy, Massachusetts. She is survived by Robert Grass of Weymouth and Dr. Henry Grass of Banks, Oregon and by five grandchildren. Donations in Ellen's memory may be made to the American Epilepsy Society, 342 N Main St. W. Hartford, Ct.,06117-2507.

Ellen Harriet Robinson (1914-2001) was born in Taunton, Massachusetts in 1914. She received her A. B. degree in Biology from Radcliffe College in 1935. She conducted research on audition at Harvard University with Morgan "Kelly" Upton and received a Masters degree from Radcliffe College in 1936. On the recommendation of Upton, she decided to immerse herself in "a broader field of brain function" and began work on the physiology of audition in Hallowell Davis's laboratory in the Department of Physiology of Harvard Medical School in the fall of 1935. She was supported by a Porter Fellowship (1935-1936) in Physiology for the American Physiological Society. Ellen continued as a Ph. D. candidate working with the noted physiological psychologist, Karl Spencer Lashley, in the Department of Biology at Harvard University. She began work on recording from the auditory cortex of rabbits but then decided not to continue in order to devote herself "to motherhood and doing whatever I could to help Albert provide equipment to a growing number of scientists". Albert Grass and Ellen Robinson met in the fall of 1935 and were married on June 28, 1936.

The scientific career of Alexander Forbes spanned fifty-six years of active research and saw the development of the realm of neurophysiology to which he contributed over 100 publications.

As a proper Bostonian of his day he could scarcely avoid going to Harvard.  He graduated in 1905.  He also received a Master's Degree in Biology from that institution in 1906 before undertaking a degree at Harvard Medical School.  By the time he received his M.D. in 1910 he had been infected with the lure of the research laboratory while he learned the rudiments of electrophysiology with Professor G. H. Parker.  In his fourth year of studies he was challenged by application of these techniques to problems in inhibition in the central nervous system reflex pathways under the guidance of Professor Walter B. Cannon.

After Forbes graduated Dr. Cannon immediately offered him the position of Instructor in Physiology, but further suggested he go to Liverpool to work with Sir Charles Sherrington for two years.   In England Forbes also spent a short time with Keith Lucas and E. D. Adrian in Cambridge while they were pioneering the biophysics of peripheral nerve.

Sidney Goldring was born on April 4, 1923, in Kremnitz, Poland. He received his M.D. degree from Washington University in 1947, trained with James L. O'Leary and George H. Bishop, in neurophysiology, and with Henry G. Schwartz, in neurological surgery, all at Washington University and Barnes Hospital and allied hospitals.

From July 1952, to February 1953, he was a Senior Assistant Surgeon in the USPHS. In this capacity, he served as Instructor in Neurological Surgery with Washington University's Medical Unit to Thailand. He subsequently served as a Captain in the U.S. army from July 1953, to January 1955.With the exception of a two year period as Professor and Head of Neurosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh from 1964-66, his professional life has been spent at Washington University School of Medicine, rising from Instructor in 1956, to Professor in 1966. In 1974, he was appointed Head of Neurosurgery and Co-Head of the newly created Department of Neurology and Neurological Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine, and Neurosurgeon-in-Chief at Barnes and St. Louis Children's Hospitals, positions which he held until 1990.

Donald B. Lindsley, one of the original founders of the UCLA Brain Research Institute (BRI) and past Chair of the department of psychology, died Thursday, June 19, 2003. He was 95.Lindsley was a brilliant scientist, a pioneer in the development and use of electrophysiological and behavioral methods in the study of arousal, attention and information processing, and his work was internationally known. He was first recruited to UCLA by Horace Magoun in 1951. With fellow professor Charles Sawyer, Lindsley and Magoun initially worked in makeshift labs at the Long Beach VA campus until the Westwood medical and health sciences research center was built. In 1959, they joined with John Douglas French and Theodore Bullock to found the BRI.