Denis Aristide Baylor
Jan. 30, 1940-March 16, 2022
Stanford, CA

Denis A. Baylor, M.D. (1940 - 2022), was a Professor Emeritus of Neurobiology at Stanford University Medical School. He died suddenly on the Stanford golf course on March 16, 2022, at the age of 82; the cause of death appeared to be a cardiac arrhythmia. Dr. Baylor gained international recognition for unraveling early steps in how animals see. He discovered how cells in the retina of our eyes encode light and color into electrical signals, preparing a representation of the visual scene for analysis by the brain.

Dr. Baylor grew up in Galesburg, Illinois, the son of Hugh Murray Baylor and Elisabeth Anne Baylor, Knox College Professors of Music and French. He graduated from Knox College in 1961 and, in 1965, from Yale Medical School, where he received the M.D. degree. While in college and medical school he became interested in the function of the nervous system and chose to pursue a career in research and teaching. He trained in neurobiology with three mentors, John Nicholls, FRS, at Yale Medical School, Michaelangelo Fuortes at the National Institutes of Health, and Nobel Laureate Alan Hodgkin at the Physiological Laboratory, Cambridge, England. From 1965 to 1978 he was married to Cheryl Clayton, the mother of his sons. In 1983 he married Eileen Van Tassel. From 1972 to 1974 he was on the faculty at the University of Colorado Medical School. In 1974 he moved to Stanford, where he was a charter member of the Medical School’s Neurobiology Department. At Stanford he did research, mentored postdoctoral fellows and graduate students, and taught medical students and undergraduates. He particularly enjoyed doing science with his trainees and took pride in their accomplishments. After retiring from Stanford, he spent two years as a Senior Scientific Officer for the Howard Hughes Medical Foundation. His work was honored by numerous awards, including election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, and the Royal Society of London.

Dr. Baylor is survived by his wife, Eileen Baylor; his brothers, Michael and Stephen, retired professors at Lehigh and the University of Pennsylvania respectively; two sons, Denis, a software engineer, and Michael, an emergency room physician; and a daughter, Michele Engelke, a homemaker. He has nine grandchildren. Dr. Baylor was an avid golfer and a devoted fan of the Stanford football team.

Tags: teacher/educator