Dr. Merl F. Hoekstra, age 56, of Monroe, Washington, died suddenly on Saturday June 4, 2016.-á Merl was born December 2, 1959 in Vernon, British Columbia, Canada to Art and Rosalea Hoekstra. He graduated from Vernon Senior Secondary in 1977 and attended the University of British Columbia where he received his B.Sc. Soon after, he married his high school sweetheart Denise and they moved to Chicago where Merl attended Graduate school at the Loyola Stritch School of Medicine. Merl received his PhD. in 1986 from the department of Microbiology and Immunology where he studied DNA damage and repair and from there began a long career in cancer research and later in medical diagnostics.
After completing postdoctoral studies at Scripps Research Clinic in La Jolla, California, he accepted a position as an assistant professor in the Molecular Biology and Virology Labs at The Salk research institute. His research during that time was funded by grants and fellowships from the NIH, NSF, American Cancer Society, the Lucille P. Markey Charitable Trust, the March of Dimes and the University of California Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program.
From July 1999 until July 2001 he served as Adjunct Professor of Pharmacology at University of California, San Diego. From 1992 to 1998, Dr. Hoekstra was Senior Director, of Science at Icos Corporation, where he developed the operating plan for a spin-off company, Ceptyr, Inc. From 1998 to 2000, Dr. Hoekstra served as Vice President of Target Discovery at Signal Pharmaceuticals. At the time of his death, Merl was Vice President of Business Development and Manager of the Molecular Diagnostics Business Unit of ELITech Group where he had been working since Feb. 2001. He served on the Snohomish County Workforce Development Council to promote biotechnology jobs in Snohomish County.
Merl published more than 65 manuscripts in journals such as Cell, Nature Genetics, Science and current Biology and made more than 75 scientific presentations worldwide on topics ranging from genetics and molecular biology to drug discovery and inhibitor development. Dr. Hoekstra was a co-founder or Scientific Advisory Board member for Ceptyr, Cascade Oncogenics, Inc. Groove Pharmaceuticals and MycoGenetics, Inc. Merl held ten issued patents and six pending patent applications.
Merl is survived by his loving wife of 35 years, Denise; children Jake and wife Laura, Ben, and Courtney; granddaughter Claire; brothers Wayne(Janine) of Trenton New Jersey, Scott(Shelagh) Kelowna B.C. and sister Lynne(Robert) Vernon B.C.; nieces and nephews Theis, Elyse, Paige, Morgan, Marijke, Carson. There are many extended family members throughout Canada and Holland.
Outside of his science and business life, and when not riding his motorcycle, Merl developed a passion for golf and spent many hours on that "long walkGÇ¥ trying to come up with the perfect round. This sport afforded him his most precious and cherished time with his family and it is on the "linksGÇ¥ where he developed many of his life long personal friendships. In that light, donations in memory of Merl can be made to The First Tee of Seattle in order to give this opportunity to others that may not have access to this wonderful sport: www.thefirstteeseattle.org/club/scripts/section/section.asp?NS=GDC
Mass will be held-á Wednesday, June 22 at 11am at Blessed Sacrament Church, 5050 8th Ave NE, Seattle, WA
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