Cedric Long, assistant director of the Division of Extramural Activities (DEA) of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), died unexpectedly May 3, 2012. He was 75.
Long graduated from UCLA with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in 1960 and 1962, respectively. In 1966, he received a Ph.D. in biology from Princeton, then held a postdoctoral fellowship at Berkeley, taught at the NYU School of Medicine (1968-70), and worked at Flow Labs (1970-76) and Litton Industries (1976-80). He then began his 32-year federal career at the NCI, part of the National Institutes of Health.
As the DEA’s assistant director, he oversaw NCI’s advisory committees and research-integrity compliance and also was project officer of the contract-supporting operations of the presidentially appointed National Cancer Advisory Board and NCI’s Board of Scientific Advisors.
Long published more than 90 papers and abstracts. His research covered enzymology, protein chemistry, cell biology, virology, immunology, and nucleic-acid chemistry. He also studied leukemia and sarcoma viruses and their relation to cell growth and transformation of normal tissue into malignant tissue.
Long was a referee for the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Analytical Biochemistry, International Journal of Cancer, the National Science Foundation, and was a member of the NCI Cancer Bulletin’s executive editorial committee.
Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.