John D. Soule; USC School of Dentistry Researcher, Teacher
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John D. Soule, 80, a longtime researcher and teacher at the USC School of Dentistry, died June 30 at his home in Pasadena after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.
The author or co-author of more than 100 research publications, Soule’s fields included the evolution of dentition in lower vertebrates.
Born in East Moline, Ill., Soule earned a bachelor’s degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He was a U.S. Army medical field and laboratory officer during World War II, stationed in the Philippines and Japan.
He earned his master’s degree and doctorate at USC and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in 1958 at Caltech.
Soule joined the USC faculty in 1950. He held a joint appointment as a professor of biological sciences at USC and curator of the Allan Hancock Foundation, a leading marine research institution, from 1960 to 1991. From 1963 to 1977, he chaired the department of histology. He also served as chair of basic sciences and a term as assistant dean for admissions.
Soule was a longtime research associate of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
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