Herman De Haas passed away on October 20, 2016 at a Bangor healthcare facility surrounded by family, following a brief illness.
He was born in Northbridge Center, Massachusetts in January, 1924. His parents were Nicholas (Liekele) De Haas and Elisabeth Hoekstra both of whom were immigrants as children from the province of Friesland, the Netherlands. His early life was spent in Linwood, MA in the town of Northbridge. After graduating from high school in 1941, he worked and apprenticed at Whitin Machine Works, manufacturing 20 & 35mm bullets for WW II, and building steam engines and pumps for cargo ships. After being drafted, but failing the physical for the Army in 1943, he went to Westminster College (PA) from which he graduated with a B.S. in Chemistry in 1947.
That summer, he began graduate school at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and earned an MS in 1950 and a Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry in 1955 with a year out of school for major heart surgery in 1949. Shortly after returning in January of 1950, Herman met Eugenie T. Lee whom he married in December of 1951.
In 1955 Herman returned to New Wilmington, PA to teach at Westminster College. At the end of the 4th year at Westminster, he decided to pursue a burning desire to return to New England. Finding an opening at the University of Maine, he began work there as an Assistant Professor in the summer of 1959.
In the fall of 1959 he helped establish, and became faculty advisor to, the UMaine Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship group and guided them through the process of gaining recognition as an official student organization.
During his time at UMO, Dr. De Haas concentrated on passing on his knowledge of biochemistry to the young people of the State of Maine. For the last 20 years or so of his teaching he taught the freshman student nurses and an Advanced Biochemistry Laboratory course to junior biochemistry majors and graduate students.
He was born in Northbridge Center, Massachusetts in January, 1924. His parents were Nicholas (Liekele) De Haas and Elisabeth Hoekstra both of whom were immigrants as children from the province of Friesland, the Netherlands. His early life was spent in Linwood, MA in the town of Northbridge. After graduating from high school in 1941, he worked and apprenticed at Whitin Machine Works, manufacturing 20 & 35mm bullets for WW II, and building steam engines and pumps for cargo ships. After being drafted, but failing the physical for the Army in 1943, he went to Westminster College (PA) from which he graduated with a B.S. in Chemistry in 1947.
That summer, he began graduate school at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and earned an MS in 1950 and a Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry in 1955 with a year out of school for major heart surgery in 1949. Shortly after returning in January of 1950, Herman met Eugenie T. Lee whom he married in December of 1951.
In 1955 Herman returned to New Wilmington, PA to teach at Westminster College. At the end of the 4th year at Westminster, he decided to pursue a burning desire to return to New England. Finding an opening at the University of Maine, he began work there as an Assistant Professor in the summer of 1959.
In the fall of 1959 he helped establish, and became faculty advisor to, the UMaine Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship group and guided them through the process of gaining recognition as an official student organization.
During his time at UMO, Dr. De Haas concentrated on passing on his knowledge of biochemistry to the young people of the State of Maine. For the last 20 years or so of his teaching he taught the freshman student nurses and an Advanced Biochemistry Laboratory course to junior biochemistry majors and graduate students.
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