A Nobel Prize, and a noble gesture
He was a kind, soft-spoken man whose remarkable life took him from the family store in Quebec’s Eastern Townships to Harvard medical school and lab research that earned him a Nobel Prize.
For years, Ralph Steinman faced resistance from researchers who were skeptical about his seminal discovery in 1973 of dendritic cells, key triggers of the body’s immune response that could be used against a wide range of diseases.
Four years ago, he was able to use his discovery in his own treatment when he was diagnosed with cancer.
His family believes that his life was prolonged thanks to therapy developed from his research, now widely accepted and used to make vaccines.
Three days after he died of pancreatic cancer, Dr. Steinman was awarded the most prestigious accolade in science, a share of this year’s Nobel Prize in medicine and physiology.
“It’s been a surreal period. We were all grieving his loss, and then this news, this wonderful news,” his son, Adam Steinman, said in an interview. “It’s a great testament to everything he’s accomplished. He’d want us to be celebrating his life.”
Even being named to the award wasn’t a straightforward matter.
The Nobel Foundation has not bestowed posthumous prizes since 1974. There were several hours of confusion on Monday when the news of Dr. Steinman’s death emerged and the awarding committee reviewed regulations.
In the end, the prize stood.
The foundation said that the rule was made to prevent the award from being handed out posthumously.
The foundation found out about Dr. Steinman’s death four hours after it announced that he and two other researchers, U.S. genetics professor Bruce Beutler and French scientist Jules Hoffmann, would share the $1.5-million prize.
“The decision to award the Nobel Prize to Ralph Steinman was made in good faith, based on the assumption that the Nobel Laureate was alive,” the Nobel foundation said in a statement.
It said the situation was similar to the 1996 prize in economics, when William Vickrey died a few days after the announcement.
Friends and family had known for several years that Dr. Steinman was a potential Nobel laureate.
After he was admitted to hospital last week, Dr. Steinman's children joked with him about fending off death until the prize for medicine was announced.
“We wanted him to be here for this,” his daughter Alexis Steinman told Reuters. “We were like, 'Okay, Dad, I know things aren't going well, but the Nobel, they are going to announce it next Monday'. And he's like: 'I know I have got to hold out for that. They don't give it to you if you have passed away. I’ve got to hold out for that.'”
Dr. Steinman came from a family with a mercantile tradition. His grandfather operated a salvage business in Old Montreal. His parents owned a store in Sherbrooke, a town 150 kilometres east of Montreal.
On weekends and during the summers, Dr. Steinman would work at the family store. But the family always valued education, and he earned a bachelor’s degree in biology at McGill University.
One brother, Seymour, became a lawyer. The other, Mark, went into business, while sister Joni co-founded a health-care consultancy.
Dr. Steinman got a scholarship to Harvard medical school. Then, while doing his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, he met his future wife, Claudia, a social worker.
At the same time, he was accepted for a postdoctoral fellowship at Rockefeller University in New York.
“When you are recruited by the finest research institute in the world, it’s hard to leave,” said his sister-in-law, Linda Stein-Steinman.
“So that’s where he spent his career. He was recognized in Canada for his work, but he was well established in the United States.”