(From the Charleston Post and Courier, April 20, 2008)

One of the exciting aspects of working within a university is the privilege of being surrounded by very smart people.

Here at the Medical University, there are 1,300 very accomplished faculty, 2,500 promising students and nearly 11,000 talented employees. Without any fear of contradiction, however, I can say that the smartest person I have ever met did not work here or at any of the four other research universities with which I have been associated.

The smartest person I have ever met was Jerry Zucker, who sadly passed away on April 12 [2008].

Mr. Zucker served on the board of the MUSC Foundation for Research Development since its founding. That group evaluates and supports the transfer of technology from the laboratories of the Medical University to commercial application.

Mr. Zucker was one of the most active members of this board, and he helped us decide which of our discoveries had the greatest potential for a return from an investment perspective.

This was, in part, what he did for a living, so he brought insight and experience that we could not have obtained elsewhere at any price.

It was a privilege to see Jerry Zucker in action. While he had business interests around the world, he offered his time to us whenever we needed it. It was rare for him to ever miss a meeting. Often, he arrived at the board meeting having just flown in from a distant country. Whatever else was on his mind, I always had the sense that he was giving us his full attention. To be honest, it appeared that serving on this board was a source of great pleasure for him.

There was always a teachable moment when he could educate the rest of us on some technical point of science or business. Several of our spin-off companies would not have gotten started had it not been for the advice and guidance of this friend and colleague.

With Jerry Zucker's passing, Charleston has lost one of its most remarkable citizens. He will be widely remembered for the business empire he built and the scores of charitable contributions he made to worthy causes around the world.

At the Medical University, he and his wife, Anita, who chairs our philanthropic foundation, made a lead gift toward an endowed chair in proteomics. As with all his gifts, this one was made with no fanfare.

Last year, the Medical University presented Mr. Zucker with an honorary degree. I was pleased that, despite his modesty, he allowed us to bestow this recognition on him. Never was an honor more richly deserved.

My heart goes out to Anita and to their children, Jonathan, Andrea and Jeffrey. They will carry on the legacy of this great leader in our community. And I will always remember him as the man with 'A Beautiful Mind.'

Raymond Greenberg M.D., Ph.D

President Medical University of South Carolina

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Mr. Jerry Zucker is the chairman, president, and CEO of The InterTech Group, Inc., a successful holding company and operator of a diverse, global group of companies with a primary emphasis on technology driven manufacturing companies. The InterTech Group, Inc was listed by Forbes (in 2003) as the thirty-eighth largest private company in the United States and by the South Carolina 100, as South Carolina's second largest privately held company.

Over the past thirty years, Mr. Zucker has served in research and development, engineering, marketing, and operations management positions at various levels and has over 300 invention disclosures resulting in numerous patents and commercially successful processes and products worldwide.  Mr. Zucker is a member of the American Chemical Society, AMA, Beta Gamma Sigma Honorary Society and TAPPI. Mr. Zucker also donates his time and expertise to several boards including the South Carolina Research Institute, Hotline of Charleston (now 211 for United Way), American-Israel Chamber of Commerce, Hebrew Orphan Society, South Carolina Aquarium, Boy Scouts of America, and Palmetto Partners for Science and Technology.