Paul Douglas Parkman was born on May 29, 1932, in Auburn and raised in Weedsport, a close-by village of about 1,200. His father, Stuart, was a postal clerk who served on the village Board of Education and raised poultry to assist his son’s coaching. His mother, Mary (Klumpp) Parkman, managed the household.
In 1955, Paul married a former kindergarten classmate, Elmerina Leonardi. She is his solely prompt survivor. His brother, Stuart, and his sister, Phyllis Parkman Thompson, died earlier.
Enrolled in an accelerated diploma program, he obtained his bachelor’s diploma in pre-medicine from St. Lawrence Faculty in Canton. N.Y., and his medical diploma from the State Faculty Nicely being Science Coronary heart, every in 1957.
In 1960, he enrolled inside the Navy Medical Corps as a captain. After serving at Walter Reed as a researcher, he was chief of fundamental virology for the N.I.H. from 1963 until the division was absorbed by the Meals and Drug Administration in 1972. There, as director of the biologics center, he oversaw insurance coverage insurance policies on H.I.V./AIDS testing and the approval of a vaccine for the most common cause for bacterial meningitis and imposed greater scrutiny of blood banks. He retired in 1990 as director of the Coronary heart for Biologics Evaluation and Evaluation.
Dr. Parkman was educated as a pediatrician. That he bought right here to concentrate on viruses was every serendipitous and inauspicious.