Kenneth Loveday – 50th Reunion Essay

Kenneth Loveday

127 Fuller Street

Brookline, MA 02446

ken.loveday@biogen.com

Spouse(s): Ellen Hoffman (unofficial, since 1972; official since 2006)

Education: MIT, PhD (microbiology), 1976

Career: Biopharmaceutical research from 1979 to present; worked on 8 drug products approved by FDA

Avocations: music, tennis, golf, hiking, theater

College: Calhoun (Hopper)

“What Yale Has Meant to Me”

I was a physics major at Yale, and my freshman year roommates (Dan Moore and Frank Demaree) delighted in teasing me about my lack of writing skills. The standing joke was “My views on life—a two-page paper by Ken Loveday!” So, finally after 50 years, I am indeed writing a two-page paper, reflecting on my life and Yale.

I was recruited from a small town in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, by a Pittsburgh Yale alum, who visited the local schools looking for the brightest students and focusing on those interested in science and math (we didn’t call it STEM back then). During his visit, he played a Whiffenpoofs record, showed me a course catalogue, and mentioned the Yale golf course—I was hooked! In keeping with Kingman Brewster’s desires to expand Yale’s pool of applicants, my acceptance provided geographical and science diversity. In my senior year, there were only 13 physics majors left!

Going from a small suburban school to an all-male Ivy League school was a shock, and I have great appreciation for the Masters of Calhoun College (sorry, that was its name back then) who helped me and others feel at home: B. Davie Napier and his wife, Joy, and R. W. B Lewis and his wife, Nancy. The Payne-Whitney gymnasium helped me get through the long winters (I loved playing hard-ball squash hidden away in its depths), but some of us lived for spring, when the Yale golf course would reopen. I played on the freshman golf team and made the squad in my senior year, but I wasn’t that good. Yale didn’t recruit golfers back then, and my buddy, Lou Casagrande (also on the freshman team), and I joked that we were true student-athletes!

As I studied more math and physics, I met classmates who were really good in both subjects. So, in my senior year, I opted for a project in microbiology (measuring DNA repair in bacteria) with a biology professor, Paul Howard-Flanders, who helped me transition to biology (and with his recommendations, I was accepted at MIT in the department of biology for my graduate work).

Looking back, I received a great benefit from going to Yale. My horizons were expanded, I met a lot of good friends, I learned not to be afraid of New York City (Dan Moore, Frank Demaree, and David Rosen can comment on that trip to the Apollo Theater), and transitioned into a career (biology) which has been very rewarding. I have spent the last 20 years working in the biopharmaceutical industry and can proudly state that I’ve worked on eight drug products that have been FDA-approved. Who knew that someone studying calculus would eventually learn how the kidney worked!

I regret that I never tried to squeeze into Professor Scully’s Introduction to Art and Architecture. There were so many classes and activities at Yale that I just ran out of free hours. Thank you, Yale!