Dr. Harry Meyer, 72; co-developed measles vaccine

As co-developer of the German measles vaccine, Dr. Harry M. Meyer Jr. helped save millions of children from birth defects such as blindness, cerebral palsy, deafness and heart defects.

The achievement was one of the highlights of a career in science and public health that spanned five decades and two continents. It stemmed from both an intense curiosity about the workings of the human body and an ability to get things done.

"One of his capabilities was to immediately focus on a problem, whether it was his personal research, administration or politics," said his friend and longtime colleague, Dr. Bennett Elisberg. "He would focus on an issue almost to the exclusion of everything else, identify the critical elements, then develop a plan of action."

Dr. Meyer, who retired as assistant surgeon general of the United States, died of lymphoma Sunday (Aug. 19) at the Kenmore home of his stepson, Stephen Bernheim. He had lived in Friday Harbor since 1993. He was 72.

German measles, or rubella, became a focus of Dr. Meyer and his co-researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) because it causes birth defects when a pregnant woman is infected with the virus. After a 1964 epidemic of 12.5 million cases left 20,000 children with birth defects, Dr. Meyer and Dr. Paul Parkman worked intensely for five years to produce a vaccine. There has been no major epidemic since the vaccine and a later, more potent version, were developed.

Dr. Meyer also was a key figure in successfully testing the red measles (rubeola) vaccine while at the NIH. Working with French health authorities, he took the vaccine to Upper Volta, now Burkina Faso, in western Africa, where thousands of children were dying of the disease in the early 1960s.

His wife, Barbara, a microbiologist, was then his NIH colleague, and she remembers the years as the most satisfying of their careers. They culminated in the immunization of more than a million children in eight countries.

"Equipment was always breaking down in the field," she said. "But everyone wanted the vaccine. Our teams would go from village to village, and the mothers would all be lined up with their children ready and waiting."

A native of Palestine, Texas, Dr. Meyer was the son of a horticulturist. He earned degrees from Hendrix College in Conway, Ark., and the University of Arkansas School of Medicine. After graduation, he worked as a researcher in the Army Medical Corps and helped identify the Asian flu virus.

Dr. Meyer continued his work as director of the NIH section responsible for viral-vaccine research and regulation. Those responsibilities shifted to the Food and Drug Administration in 1972, and he implemented important programs there, including the external review by expert advisory panels of manufacturers' claims regarding biological products such as vaccines.

He also consulted with three U.S. presidents regarding public-health matters.

After retiring from government service in 1986, he served as president of the medical-research division of American Cyanamid. He also served on the board of directors of Seattle-based Immunex.

Dr. Meyer had a broad range of interests outside of his career, almost all of them centering on the outdoors: horseback riding, spelunking, running, cross-country skiing, family camping, scuba diving and sailing. He especially enjoyed sailing with his family in the Caribbean and hiking. And after moving to the Northwest in 1993, he became an expert on mushrooms and wildflowers.

"He had this truly inquiring mind," Elisberg said. "He applied it to everything he got involved in, including mushrooms."

Besides Barbara, his wife of 35 years, Dr. Meyer's survivors include three children from his first marriage to Mary Jane Meyer: Dr. Mary Catherine Dundon of Nashville; Martin Meyer III, of Bellbrook, Ohio; and David Meyer of Kensington, Md.; his stepson, Stephen Bernheim, of Kenmore; a sister, Martha Moore, of Conway, Ark.; a brother, Eugene Meyer, of Memphis; and five grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at a later date at Hendrix College. Memorial donations may be made to Providence Hospice of Seattle, 425 Pontius Ave. N., Suite 300, Seattle WA 98109.

Warren King can be reached at 206-464-2247 or wking@seattletimes.com.