Dr. Hubert R. Catchpole, longtime Professor and Professor Emeritus of Oral Biology at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) College of Dentistry, died March 25 at home in Chicago at age 99.
Born in London May 13, 1906, Dr. Catchpole was raised by foster parents in a farming community outside Norwich, England. Interested in learning from an early age, Dr. Catchpole was given an encyclopedia as a child after his foster family saved money for years to buy it.
Although most members of his farming community quit school in their middle teens, Dr. Catchpole continued his education and attended Cambridge University on a scholarship. He received a degree in biochemistry in 1928, and in 1930 moved to the United States to attend the University of California, where he earned a PhD in comparative physiology in 1933.
Dr. Catchpole taught physiology at Yale University from 1936 to 1943, when he obtained U.S. citizenship. He was commissioned into the U.S. Navy, for whom he did research on decompression sickness of divers and aviators.
In 1946, he joined the University of Illinois as a Professor of Pathology in the College of Medicine, and served as Director of Graduate Studies in that department from 1953 to 1975. He became a Professor in the Department of Histology (now Oral Biology) in 1975. He also was a Visiting Professor of Humanities at Rush University in Chicago.
Dr. Catchpole’s research interests included the distribution of elements in the cytoplasm of cells in relation to their values in the blood. With Professor Emeritus of Oral Biology and Orthodontics Dr. Milton Engel, Dr. Catchpole’s research included measurements of epithelial cells of the rat. He also performed research in endocrinology, tumor growth, connective tissues, wound healing, amyloid disease, and many other areas. Dr. Catchpole published more than 150 scientific articles through 2005. He was a consultant to the National Institutes of Health and to the Hektoen Institute, and a member of many professional and scientific organizations.
“Every year, our histology students learn about ground substance,” explained Dr. Thomas Diekwisch, Head of the Department of Oral Biology at UIC. “Ground substance is what is classified as extracellular matrix today and which is the quintessential multifunctional environment responsible for cell growth, attachment, and death. Dr. Catchpole was one of the first researchers who focused on the function and importance of this structure called ‘ground substance’ in his classic paper ‘The organization of ground substance and basement membrane and its significance in tissue injury, disease, and growth.’” (Gersh and Catchpole, 1949.). “It is an honor and a privilege to have shared precious moments with one of science’s all time greats, Dr. Hubert Catchpole.”
Dr. Catchpole “was exceptional,” Dr. Engel said. “He was a distinguished scientist who made important and seminal contributions even to his last days—a learned man who bore these special qualities with modesty and grace.”
Dr. Catchpole also was interested in geography, history, and classical music, and was a member of the Oriental Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Literary Club. He Catchpole read in four languages.
Dr. Catchpole married Dr. Robin Miller in 1972. She passed away in 1996.