Memories from Dan
Susan’s entire career, indeed, her whole life coincided with the rise of molecular biology – the discovery of DNA, the genetic code, the human genome and even now to COVID-19. She always told me how fascinated she was in the 1960’s as more and more discoveries were being made and reported. In the late 1970’s at Columbia University she got to work in this area. The sequencing of DNA was just blossoming and the laboratory she worked in had fully embraced it. For her thesis, she was determining the sequence of a portion the yeast mitochondrial DNA that codes for cytochrome oxidase. She told me how they were using the Maxam-Gilbert sequencing method at that time. In those days to sequence 1000 base pairs of DNA took a long time – she had to sequence 10,000 base pairs for her thesis. Today by contrast 10,000 base pairs can be sequenced in seconds! For further perspective the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is 30,000 base pairs and over one million samples have been sequenced. Susan loved the amazing progress that was made.
What Susan discovered for her thesis was that the yeast mitochondrial genome used a slightly modified genetic code than is used almost everywhere else in the biological world. This result is still sited in Wikipedia if you look up the section on genetic codes. She published this work in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 1980. (You can find the paper at https://www.pnas.org/content/77/6/3167). As it so happens at the same time a different group found something similar in human mitochondrial DNA and published it back-to-back in the same journal (https://www.pnas.org/content/77/6/3167). In this group was one of the giants of biological sciences – Frederick Sanger, one of only a handful of people to win two Nobel Prizes. Susan was able to meet Dr. Sanger – a scientific thrill she never forgot.
From Steve and Patty
You have been in our thoughts many times during this difficult year. We miss Susan. We have many happy memories of time spent with her. Whenever you and Susan visited Minnesota, we had lots of fun talking to Susan about gardening, travel, and so very many other topics. She always had a smile for everyone, and was cheerful, caring, and kind. Susan seemed like a ray of sunshine whenever she walked into a room.
From Loretta Bober
In my acquaintance with her, Susan would best be categorized as a true "Renaissance Woman" - always inquisitive, searching for knowledge in a wide range of fields, yet, a very warm, non-judgmental, compassionate person who reached out and made friends with a wide variety of people. She always made it a point to visit the laboratories and manifest these traits. We need more people like Susan in today's world. She will be missed by many, especially those of us who knew her.
From Ginny Chanda
Susan actually started me on what would end up being my professional career, managing a series of journals on laboratory methods and procedures. The publisher of these lab methods needed copyediting help and advertised for a “full-time copyeditor to work from the Brooklyn-based office.” Susan was intrigued by the advertisement, and wrote to the publisher, asking if she’d be interested in having Susan who was a PhD scientist, copyedit for them—but part time, from her home in Flemington, NJ. As it turned out, the publisher was delighted to have a PhD to edit lab procedures, and hired Susan. Soon after, she got a spot for me. The take-home message for this story, and one that I never forgot, was that it never hurts to ask for what you want. The worst that could happen is that the answer would be no, but it many cases, it might be an answer that opens up many other possibilities.
From Giuseppe, COOP Genova
Di Susan ricordo il sole ed il sorriso che aveva ogni volta che ci vedevamo ,,, mi tirava su il morale … mi dava coraggio --- una bella persona, buona. La ricordero sempre con il sorriso e ringrazio di averla conosciuta.
(Of Susan I remember the sun and the smile she had every time we met ,,, it cheered me up … it gave me courage … a nice, good person. I will always remember her with a smile and thankfulness for having met her.)
From Rachel Koehler
Growing up I was fortunate to have many strong female role models, Aunt Susan was one of them for me. I was always so inspired by her and respected her for her constant curiosity to continue to learn. The way she would ask great questions and be so engaged in the conversation and care about what you were saying. She was amazing.
She inspired me to pursue my degree in science and helped pique my interest in biology. It was always fun as a kid to hear about her DNA sequencing of onions.
When I think of Aunt Susan I love remembering her laughter, I can still picture her wiping away her tears when she was having a good laugh.
From Linda Mullin
Susan and I grew up in the same neighborhood. Her grandparents lived next door to me and we would often go through her grandparent's home as we went between our houses. Her grandparents like my grandfather and his family, that also lived in the neighborhood, were German and settled in Mine Hill around the same time. Susan and I went all through school together, elementary through college and we attended the same church down the road. We would walk to school and church together. I loved going to her house, she has the best tree to climb. The Weeping Willow was so memorable that I planted one for my grandchildren to climb when they get older and the tree grows bigger.
Mario and Paolo, Genova
Io e Paolo vogliamo ricordare Susan come una persona a noi molto cara, sempre curiosa delle sfumature del mondo e contro le ingiustizie nascoste nelle società di oggi, europee e americane. Per noi sei stata subito pronta a conoscerci come coppia e soprattutto hai contribuito alla formazione della nostra nuova casa... ricordiamo le nostre lunghe conversazioni tra l'italiano e l'inglese e tutte le domande per capire meglio la società italiana che ti incuriosiva. Sei mancata in un periodo strano dell'umanità tra chiusure causate dal virus e distanze dei parenti ed amici, ci hai lasciati senza parole e con molta tristezza Vogliamo ricordarti come una persona dolce e travolgente che è stata per noi molto di più di quello che mai siamo riusciti a dirti a parole, un abbraccio ovunque tu sia ed un abbraccio grande a Dan.
(Paolo and I want to remember Susan as a person very dear to us, always curious about the nuances of the world and against the hidden injustices in today's European and American societies. For us you were immediately ready to get to know us as a couple and above all you contributed to the formation of our new home ... we remember our long conversations between Italian and English and all the questions to better understand the Italian society that intrigued you. You passed away in a strange period of humanity between closures caused by the virus and distances from relatives and friends, you left us speechless and with a lot of sadness We want to remember you as a sweet and overwhelming person who was for us much more than ever we were able to tell you in words, a hug wherever you are and a big hug to Dan.)
Tone Gaglione
Remembering Susan: I met Susan about 35 years ago when she hired me to clean and iron. Through the years, we became great friends. I saw her once a week. When I first started working for her, Susan and Dan both worked for Exxon. They left Exxon and went to work at Schering Plough. Dan stayed at Schering but Susan moved on. The high school in her district had her work with some of the science class students. They gave her an office and then made her a visiting professor. She also edited science text books. As the years past she went to work for a company that bought the rights to Cochleates, a bio-delivery system similar to a packman-like application that would go directly to the problem and destroy it. The scientist who developed this research had Susan on his team. Together they worked on the possibilities of cochleates. I remember the Army was very interested and Susan made various trips to Washington and Maryland. Whenever anything went wrong with her car, her clothes dryer or anything else, she would laugh and blame it on the “Cochleate Gods”.
Over the years I met Helen and Harry, Susan’s parents. I would see Harry just about every week. He would come over and do yard work and cut the lawn.
Once, Harry got locked in the bathroom. The lock had frozen and would not turn at all. Talking through the door, he wanted Susan and I to take the door of the hinges. I had seen opening doors on TV using a credit card so I got one of my cards from my purse, inserted it between the door and door jamb and forced the latch back into the door. The door popped open. Susan and her dad were amazed and Susan said “Something tells me you’ve done this before.”
I remember when her brother Barry got engaged to Kelly. After they married, I remember when Lauren was born and a few years later, Erich. Susan was very happy and loved them so much.
I remember meeting Dan's mother and father, Bud and Virginia. They would come and visit from time to time and they were great friends with Susan's parents. I also got to meet Randy, Dan's brother, Sue his wife and their children, Rachael, Emily and Erik. They were visiting from Minnesota and going to a church in Brooklyn, NY and it turned out I used to attend that church growing up in Brooklyn. Dan and his family are of Swedish decent and Sue is Norwegian. I am Norwegian and that church was in a Norwegian neighborhood. Small World!
I always loved hearing the stories about their kids and I remember when Rachael got married. She and her husband Tony were both in the military and at the time, my son-in-law was a Marine stationed in Iraq. I remember when Owen and Anna were born. Susan loved the baby pictures and those family pictures adorned her fireplace mantle. A few years ago, Emily married Joao and I remember how excited Susan was about going to the wedding. She also loved visiting them in Seattle.
She and Dan loved Italy. They traveled there many times and decided to buy an apartment in Genoa. She was so excited about living there for part of the year and decided to get dual citizenship. From Italy, she and Dan could travel all over Europe.
Susan loved hearing stories about my Italian husband and our children. Over the years my then son-in-law suffered from injuries and a weird disease he received while in Iraq. She would look up different treatments for him and hospitals that specialized in his treatment. When my sister had cancer she told me about all of the new treatments and clinical trials that might be available to her. She always tried to help others.
I always looked forward to seeing her and I can't believe it has been a year since her passing. I loved her like a sister and miss her very much.
Paul Zavodny
My doctoral studies were focused on the mitochondrial respiratory chain and pursuing the purification and characterization of cytochrome oxidase from cultured mammalian cells. At the end of my doctoral studies I was looking for a post-doctoral position and mentioned the world-renowned Tzagoloff lab at Columbia to fellow students. One of them immediately said "I know someone in that lab! Her name is Susan Bonitz. She is an extremely bright girl. Very, very smart!".
In 1983 I started working in the Schering-Plough Laboratory of Molecular Biology and a few years later learned that there was someone coming in to interview for a position in Molecular Biology. His name was Dan Lundell. Never heard of him. But I was extremely excited to learn that his wife was Susan Bonitz and she was looking for a position! I was excited at the prospect of hiring Dan mainly so we could also hire Susan and we hired both!
I learned of Susan and Dan's love for Italy, apparently mainly for the food. They would go back to Italy for vacations every year and eventually bought a residence there. One time, we were all in Stockholm for a scientific meeting and Susan thought the food was so bad she had a dinner flown in from another country! I don't recall, but I think it was from Italy.
After leaving Schering-Plough, my wife and I kept touch with Susan and Dan. We had regular get-togethers over lunch at the Cathay 22 Chinese restaurant on Route 22 in Union, NJ. Apparently the food obsession wasn't limited to Italian. We went there so many times over so many years we had our own table and were known as the "Tsing-Tao Group". Not that we drank that much.
I have known Susan and Dan for well over 30 years and in that time they were always together, always smiling and I can't recall any time either of them were angry or had a harsh word for anyone. Susan and Dan were such a perfect match and clearly meant for one another. Every time we met, Susan would always ask about how our son and daughter were doing. But one lunch at Cathay 22 stands out. Susan was trying to relate a story about a colleague of hers who almost burned down his house because the roast caught fire in the oven. She said it was the wrath of the cochleate gods! She found the event so funny she had trouble finishing the story and couldn't speak because she was laughing so hard that tears were streaming down her face.
There are all kinds of tears: some tears of happiness and some tears from the pain of loss of a loved one. Susan was so much more than an accomplished scientist; she was simply a wonderful person. Susan was deeply loved. It was an honor to have Susan as a scientific colleague. But it was an even greater honor and privilege to have her as a friend. She will be greatly missed.
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