William Fleming, the retired Mylan Professor of Pharmacology at West Virginia University School of Medicine, died April 29, 2015, at age 83.
Fleming graduated from Harvard in 1954, and then earned a Ph.D. in biology from Princeton in 1957. With a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School, he studied autonomic and cardiovascular pharmacology. In 1960, he joined the pharmacology department at the West Virginia University School of Medicine as an assistant professor.
In 1966, Fleming was appointed full professor and chair of the department, positions he held until he retired in 1999. From 1986, he also held the Mylan Chair of Pharmacology. He was recognized internationally for his research and mentoring of Ph.D. students and postdoctoral fellows. In 2001, WVU gave him the Vandalia Award for outstanding service to the state.
In retirement, Fleming was an adjunct professor of pharmacology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, as well as an emeritus professor at WVU. He had been president of three professional pharmacological associations and published more than 130 papers.
Fleming was married to Dolores for 62 years. He is survived by three children; five grandchildren; and a great-grandson.
Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.