Alan Ray Light

Alan Ray Light, Ph.D., retired Professor of Neurobiology and Anesthesiology at the University of Utah, died recently at the age of 76. He is survived by his wife Kathleen Campany Light, Ph.D., also a retired Research Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of Utah, and his daughter, Alysson Light, Ph.D., who is currently Associate Professor in the Psychology Department at the University of Chicago. His older brother Dr. Mark Light and his wife Vickie reside near Chico CA. His younger sister Marcie Light Pomplun predeceased him, but his brother-in-law Steve Pomplun still resides in Madison WI.

Alan spent his boyhood in Whitewater, Wisconsin where his father Dr. Raymond Light was Dean of the School of Fine Arts at the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater. He loved to range around the rural areas near the town collecting bullfrogs, snakes, turtles and other critters that his mother Zenobia Ogle Light tolerantly allowed him to keep in their basement where she did the laundry. When he was only 7, he asked for and got a student microscope to study protozoa in water samples. As a teenager, he became an expert golfer which kept him outside for many hours a week as he often played 36 holes. He also started breeding and raising tropical fish, another lifelong hobby.

Although Alan had originally planned to attend Northwestern University, he was persuaded to visit Hamilton College by a mentor. Once there, he played golf with their golf coach and decided to go there instead. He played on the Hamilton golf team all four years and was proud to be their top player in his final year. He joined the Psi Upsilon fraternity and met his future wife Kathy through her brother Tom Campany, who was also a member. Alan and Kathy were an instant match, and their mutually supportive relationship lasted for 57 years until his death.

After graduating from Hamilton in 1972, Alan went to graduate school in Physiology at Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse NY. He and Kathy were married in December 1972, and she went to
graduate school in Psychology at Syracuse University. They both completed the Ph.D. research for their dissertations at Upstate in fall 1977, and were both accepted for postdoctoral training at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During their years in Syracuse, they spent their free time climbing mountains in the Adirondacks and Alan continued to raise tropical fish.

Alan was very fortunate that his postdoctoral research mentor was Dr. Edward Perl, a visionary researcher who was a co-founder and the first president of the Society for Neuroscience which now numbers 35,000 members in over 95 countries. Although Alan published an amazing total of 128 original research papers in collaboration with many scientists over the next 45 years, he was best known for the 14 papers published between 1977 and 1984. These studies employed a then novel technique to functionally characterize different types of sensory neurons based on responses to painful vs. non-painful stimuli, and then to stain them with horseradish peroxidase to map their locations and branches. This research required patience and focus since individual experiments typically lasted for at least 24 hours, and the mapping done from hundreds of individual tissue sections viewed under a microscope was even more laborious. He was also very successful in obtaining NIH grant support continuously at UNC for the next 26 years. At the same time, he taught neurophysiology and neuroanatomy to the medical students and graduate students. He was eventually promoted to Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and finally Full Professor at UNC-Chapel Hill. He loved telling people about his work and traveled to many countries to give talks and to collaborate with other scientists on research projects.

His hobbies during this time were varied. He continued to play golf and raise tropical fish but gradually spent more time cross country skiing, mountain hiking and rock climbing with Kathy who shared his love of nature and outdoor sports. Together, they took a trip to Switzerland with the Canadian Alpine Club and did a strenuous glacier trek up the Monte Rosa, which at over 15,000 feet is the second highest in the Alps. They bought a vacation home in the North Carolina mountains and spent many weekends and vacations hiking there. Later, using both glacier and rock climbing techniques, they ascended Washington State’s Mount Baker twice and Mount Shuksan once. They also did many back-country skiing trips during their annual visits to the western states for the Winter Conference on Brain Research (WCBR). Their daughter Alysson learned to walk at 9 months holding onto the couch in the ski condo and spent the ski days riding in his baby backpack at 1986 WCBR. Aly herself initially learned to ski with other preschoolers at later WCBR meetings. When Aly was 11, the family went to Italy together, touring Florence and Venice, and going rock climbing in the Dolomite Mountains.

In 1999, Alan and Kathy took a sabbatical year at the University of Utah to collaborate with colleagues there. They both fell in love with Park City and the Utah mountains, and they luckily found a 10 acre property to buy, planning to build a retirement home. When a job offer by the University of Utah was made to Alan, they quickly built a small house on their land and he relocated there in 2003, the same year that Alysson started college at Sarah Lawrence. Kathy was able to get a faculty position there in 2006, and they both continued to do research there until they retired. It was a great working environment for them both, thanks primarily to their supportive department chair Dr. Michael Cahalan. Their joint research at Utah helped advance understanding of complex disorders including chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. Alan continued to teach neuroanatomy to the medical students, and to mentor both students and faculty in research. He had an open door policy and there was almost always someone in his office, wanting to talk with him about a new project.

Both of Alan’s parents were musicians and his mother Zenobia was an exceptional singer, performing in her 20’s with the Robert Shaw Chorale. Alysson inherited this talent. During her year in Park City, Aly found a wonderful voice teacher, and she began writing her own songs and singing and playing her keyboard for small audiences in coffee houses and public events. Alan’s other main hobby became serving as her promoter and roadie, hauling her keyboard and sound system to wherever she could get a gig. He also got her 4 CDs recorded at a Chapel Hill studio. Like everything else he did, he became 100% committed to this, and to the end of his life, he was happy whenever he heard her sing.

Alan retired in December 2021 and in September 2022 was diagnosed with cognitive impairment, specifically progressive aphasia (difficulty remembering words). After a year or two, he could no
longer understand his own papers, but he was still very proud of his research record and enjoyed being called Dr. Light. In 2024, Alan was at his happiest when he was able to go to Alysson’s
wonderful Princess Bride-themed wedding to her life partner, John Van Dusen Ph.D. We were all happy that her dad was still able to dance and sing with her to one of his favorite Motown songs, “My Girl”. Back in Utah, over the next 2 years, Alan remained physically strong and continued to fill his time until the very last weeks of his life with outdoor activities including mountain hiking and fly fishing, cross country snow shoeing and skiing, and watching mountain wildlife including elk herds on his own land. Alan was a unique person who lived life to its fullest as a loving husband and father and a brilliant scientist who had a powerful impact on others. He will be missed very much.