Ralph Karler passed away peacefully December 2, 2014. He was born November 11, 1928 in Mishawaka, Indiana to Max and Florence Karler. He married Barbara June Zmaeff in El Cerrito, California.
Ralph had a A.B. (1947) from the University of Chicago's College; a B.A.(1950) in Chemistry from Indiana University; an M.S. (1953) in Comparative Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of California, San Francisco; and his Ph.D. (1958) in Physiology from the University of California, Berkeley. He came to Salt Lake City as a Postdoctoral Trainee (1958) in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Utah.
Ralph was a Professor of Pharmacology in the University of Utah School of Medicine where he mentored both medical and graduate students from 1958 until his retirement in 2005. He had a long and distinguished career studying the effects of various drugs on the brain; this research was supported and financed uninterruptedly by the National institutes of Health, the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness, the Epilepsy Foundation of America and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. He served on the scientific review committees for the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National institute of Mental Health and the Veterans' Administration, and he was an invited speaker at numerous conferences and symposia. His research resulted in the steady publication of not only major articles, but also invited reviews and book chapters.
Although he had no "hobbies," he relished working in his Canyon home and garden, he was a lifetime lover of sports, especially basketball; but his greatest love was science and he was always happiest in his laboratory.
Ralph is survived by his wife; numerous nieces and nephews. Preceded in death by brothers: Arthur, Robert, Charles, Henry and Jesse. At Ralphs request no services will take place. Online condolences can be shared at www.larkinmortuary.com.
