Background
Pillemer, Louis was born on July 4, 1908 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Son of Jacob and Rebecca Alice (Faivus) Pillemer.
Pillemer, Louis was born on July 4, 1908 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Son of Jacob and Rebecca Alice (Faivus) Pillemer.
He attended public schools in Catlettsburg and Ashland, Kentucky, and began collegiate work at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, later attending Marshall College at Huntington, West Virginia, and Duke University at Durham, North Carolina.
He was brought to the United States at the age of one year, and was naturalized in 1916. At Duke he received a Bachelor of Surgery degree in 1930, and also completed two years in medicine. Foundation dead at his home in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, at the age of 49 years, he was survived by a wife and four young sons.
He led a team at Western Reserve University which discovered properdin in 1954, and this discovery received attention from the national press as a breakthorough in immunology.
In 1957, Robert Nelson challenged these findings, and claimed that Pillemer"s results were due to laboratory errors. Pillemer"s death soon after publications was ruled a suicide.
Nelson"s view prevailed at the time, but further study in the 1960s largely led to a confirmation of much of Pillemer"s work.
Fellow New York Academy Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science, International Society Hematology. Member American Chemical Society, Society Experimental Biology and Medicine, American Association Immunologists, American Society Biological Chemists, Incorporated., Sigma Xi.
Married Jean Burrell, June 30, 1948. Children: Stephen Jacob, David Burrell, Eric Anthony, Karl Andrew.