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(October 4, 1943 – September 19, 2022)
Mason, William S., Jr., age 78, went to be with his Lord on September 19, 2022, after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer. Bill was raised in Fair Lawn, NJ, the son of the late William S., Sr., and Mary Mason.
Bill was a graduate of Fair Lawn High School, where he was an active member of the high school band. He went on to graduate from Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ, with a BS in Mathematics, University of Chicago, with a PhD in Biophysics, and University of Southern California School of Medicine, Postdoctoral Fellow.
In 1973, he joined the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, where he conducted ground-breaking research in the biology of viral disease for 45 years, even after retirement as a Senior Member Professor Emeritus. He served on the editorial boards of influential virology journals, was awarded the Distinguished Scientist Award by the Hepatitis B Foundation, and was elected to the American Academy of Microbiology. He is greatly missed by his colleagues.
Bill was also an accomplished musician and avid bicyclist. He especially enjoyed many bicycling trips in Europe with his sister and friends on VBT Bike Tours. In his younger years, he enjoyed running in marathons. With all of his accomplishments, he was a very unassuming, humble man, with a wonderfully dry sense of humor.
Bill leaves his wife, Karen, loving daughter, Jeanine Mason, dear sister, Nancy Dyrsten, loving nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends. He will also be greatly missed by his devoted church family, including band and choir members at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Williamstown, NJ, his Bonsal Blues Band Members from Woodbury, NJ, and longtime friends from Fox Chase Cancer Center.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the charity of your choice.
{Published online on Vander Plaat Colonial Home website.]
Also on Echovita.com:
William S. Mason Jr. Obituary
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of William S. Mason Jr. (Williamstown, New Jersey), born in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, who passed away on September 19, 2022, leaving to mourn family and friends. Leave a sympathy message to the family on the memorial page of William S. Mason Jr. to pay them a last tribute.
He was predeceased by : his parents, William S., Sr. and Mary Mason. He is survived by : his wife Karen; his daughter Jeanine Mason; and his sister Nancy Dyrsten. He is also survived by loving nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, October 1st 2022 at 11:00 AM at the St. John's Lutheran Church (1002 S Main St, Williamstown, NJ 08094).
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the charity of your choice. https://memorials.vpfairlawn.com/william-mason/5025411/index.php?_ga=2.143380789.1077370979.1664473976-147422803.1664473975
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Mark Schrager
I am so sorry to hear of Bill's passing away. We shared many of the same interests in high school including sitting next to each other in the Concert Band for three years. We both continued to enjoy our instruments after we finished our education and careers. In addition, we both have been serious bikers and wound up with careers in the biomedical field. He was indeed a gentleman. My deepest sympathies go out to his family and friends.
David Danby
I was very saddened to read about Bill this morning and was looking forward to talking with him on his birthday next week. We were very close friends, meeting after I arrived from Paramus to go to Memorial School in 9th grade. He helped me a great deal to navigate a new school and we got through our teenage years as good buddies. We walked to school together in 9th-12th grades and hung out at each other's homes regularly. Bill was a very good clarinest and sax player and I was a frendh horn player and we shared that musical connection which was very important for both of us.. After high school Bill went to, as we would kid around calling it, Stevens Hoboken Institute of Technoloty. During our undergradutate days, along with Jan Ottenbreit, we worked togneter for three summers in the Fair Lawn Parks department. In our opinion the parks during those summers were never better taken care of. Then Bill went on to Chicago for gradutatre school and that gave me the opportunity to vist him there frequently and get to know the city. Given our shared appreciation of classical music we enjpyed going to hear the great Chicaho Symphony perform whenever possible.Bill got married and headed to Los Angeles and Seattle I would visit him there. In the 80's we eneded up with our families - he was back in NJ and I was in CA and we ennjoyed geeting together whenever we were on the other coasts. We drifted apart talking occassionally but then more recentlly we reconnected and were calling each other on birthdays and holidays. I was fortunate to have such a good friend in my life and will miss him dearly.
Jan Ottenbreit (Ottenbreit)
I am very saddened by t he loss of Bill Mason. We were the best of friends throughout our school years in Fair Lawn and we both worked at the same summer job at the parks department for all the summers between our college years. I last saw Bll at our 50th wedding anniversay party in Chevy Chase Maryland at our sons home.
William Camp
Bill was a good friend in High School. We often talked about canoeing on the Delaware River, but never did it. I am better for knowing you Bill, better for having met you. May you be as blessed in the next life, my friend, as I was in this one by knowing you.