At a Meeting of the
Faculty of Vassar College
held
May twelfth, nineteen hundred
and seventy-six, the following
Memorial
was unanimously adopted:
Rudolf T. Kempton came to Vassar College in l937 as Professor
of Zoology and three years later was appointed Chairman of the De-
partment. He held the degrees of B.S. from Bates College, M.A.
from Columbia University and Ph.D. from New York University. Prior
to his appointment at Vassar he had thirteen years of experience
in research and teaching at New York University, University of
Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Princeton University. He was
a member of several professional societies and at different times
was elected to national office in the Society of General Physiolo-
gists and the American Society of Zoologists.
Rudolf possessed great natural ability and a special personal
charisma. He was a man of integrity and courage who would stand
and fight, if need be, for justice, equality of opportunity for
women and blacks, and other basic principles of a democratic society.
He took special pride in being a member of the college volunteer
fire department and he numbered among his friends most of the college
workmen as well as faculty, administrators and students. Throughout
his adult life Rudolf maintained an enthusiastic interest in people,
teaching and research. He held firm beliefs in the value of a
liberal arts education for women and of the importance of an under-
standing of biological concepts and research methods as an integral
part of that education. For twenty-six years he taught a two-
semester course in General Zoology. After the merger of the Depart-
ments of Zoology, Plant Science and Physiology he became one of the
Directors of the new General Biology course. The major thrust of
his teaching was the nature of scientific investigation and the
interrelationship between fundamental research and application of
knowledge to problems of the individual and society. He believed
that students should see scientists as real people and not demi-
gods cloistered in “ivory laboratories". Rudolf frequently illus-
trated his lectures with examples from his own research experience
and that of his friends. Generations of zoology students fondly
remember his stories about the great and near-great biologists with
whom he associated during summers at the Woods Hole Marine Biologi-
cal Laboratory.
In addition to teaching, Rudolf served the College in important
leadership roles. He was Chairman of the Department of Zoology for
a total of twenty-two years. During the Presidency of Miss Blanding
he served on the Advisory Committee for many years. Older faculty
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will remember when as Budget Representative he gave the faculty
lucid explanations, complete with colored graphs, of the college
budget. Rudolf took seriously his responsibility of representing
the faculty point of view in conferences with Miss Blanding. He
was always ready to discuss a professional problem with any faculty
member or to engage in general discussion of college issues. We all
knew where and when to find Rudolf. Every morning after completing
his eight o'clock class he would pick up his mail from the post
office and then go to his unofficial "office", The Retreat. As he
drank a second cup of coffee, friends or students joined him.
These conversations, and sometimes heated debates, often extended
the so called “office hour“. Several times during his tenure at
Vassar Rudolf was involved in planning for a new biology building.
Before his retirement he saw the start of the plans that resulted
in Olmsted Hail, but he never saw the completed building.
Of equal importance in Rudolf's life were his teaching at Vassar
College and his research, which was largely carried on at his beloved
Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Summers
spent there were important to him intellectually and socially. He
enjoyed the contact with fellow scientists, and the seminars and re-
search conversations kept him abreast of what was new and exciting
in biological research. The excellent library, laboratory and
animal supply made his research activities a pleasure. He was a
Trustee of the Marine Biological Laboratory for eighteen years and
played an active role in the administration of the Corporation.
Rudolf's research concerned the structure and function of the kidney.
At the beginning of his career he was a member of research teams who
pioneered in important research on kidney function. His own early
work dealt with the chick embryo and species of amphibians, but he
became especially interested in the Elasmobranch fishes and the role
their excretory system plays in adapting the animal to its aquatic
environment. Contrary to the hostile feeling about sharks and their
relatives held by most laymen, Rudolf regarded these animals as the
most fascinating in the world. Many of his publications were based
on the relatively small dogfish shark. While on a Vassar Fellowship
in 1955-56 he studied a variety of species of sharks, skates and rays
at Marineland of the Pacific and Marineland of Florida. He is the
author of numerous publications. During his later years at Vassar
College and after his retirement, Rudolf began to compile a bibliogra-
phy of the Class Elasmobranchii; unfortunately death came to him
before he could complete this important monograph.
During World War ll Rudolf took a leave of absence to serve as
teacher and panelist in the U.S. Army's Educational Program. In
l955-56 he taught physiology at the U.S. Army's Shrivenham American
University in England. For seven months he, with other experts,
toured U.A. Army bases in Europe discussing with the soldiers
problems relating to sex. An outcome of this experience was a book,
co-—authored with Dr. Fred Brown, entitled “Sex Questions and Answers“.
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This book, published by McGraw-Hill, became a l950 Book of the
Month alternate selection and was translated into Danish, Dutch
and Portugese. When he returned to Vassar, Rudolf initiated and
participated in the widely acclaimed Freshman Sex Panel. This was
a question and answer session designed to give incoming students
an opportunity for a frank and open discussion of sex. In many
ways Rudolf was ahead of his time with respect to sex education.
When Rudolf retired in l967, after thirty years of service to
Vassar College, he left a void in the Department of Biology and the
College Community. Until his death in l975, he maintained his con-
tact with the community of biological scientists. Summers were
spent as always in his home at Woods Hole and he continued to be
active in the affairs of the Marine Biological Laboratory. Shortly.
before retirement he built a winter home in St. Augustine, Florida,
near the Marineland. Rudolf was a devoted family man. Of greatest
importance in his personal life was his wife,Elizabeth, his daughter,
Laura, and his four grandchildren. His was a happy and active re-
tirement until his terminal illness.
Rudolf Kempton will long live in the memory of those of us who
knew him.
Respectfully submitted,
Madelene E. Pierce
Joseph F. Mucci
Ethel Sue Lumb, Chairman