Edward Donald French, Ph.D.

Edward Donald French was born February 15, 1946 in Alpena, Michigan. He died October 15, 2025 in Tucson, Arizona. 

Ed spent the last 37 years in Tucson. In 2018, he retired as a Full Professor from the University of Arizona's College of Medicine's Department of Pharmacology. He holds the title of Emeritus Professor of Pharmacology in that Department. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from California State University, Long Beach, in Zoology, and earned his Ph.D. in Pharmacology at the University of California, Los Angeles. After completing his doctorate, he became a postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Arthur V. Davis Center for Behavioral Neurobiology, The Salk Institute, San Diego, California, under the tutelage of Dr. Floyd E. Bloom, a member of the National Academy of Sciences. While working at the Salk Institute, he had the honor to be awarded a one-year Alexander von Humboldt fellowship at the Max-Planck-Institute for Psychiatry in Munich, Germany.

From 1980-1986, he served as a Research Assistant Professor at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1986, he was promoted to Research Associate Professor of Pharmacology with a secondary appointment in the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. From 1986-87, he served as Acting Chief, Neuroscience Program, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center in Baltimore, Maryland.

Dr. French was invited to join the faculty at the University of Arizona (UA) College of Medicine in 1988 where he remained until his retirement as a tenured full professor of Pharmacology in 2018. He earned the title of Emeritus Professor of Pharmacology after his retirement. While at the UA, and only as examples of the administrative work he performed there, he was Chair of the Graduate Program in Pharmacology and Toxicology, directed the pharmacology course for second-year medical students, directed the Cardiovascular, Pulmonary, Renal Block from 2009 to 2015 in the second-year medical school curriculum, and Chaired the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Pharmacology and Toxicology in the Graduate College at the University of Arizona. He conducted grant-funded research throughout his academic career at the University of Arizona. 

As a member of the faculty, he mentored countless graduate students and medical students and served on their dissertation committees.

He also served on numerous committees both in the College of Medicine and at the University of Arizona, some of which included the Curriculum Committee, Student Progress Committee, Student Appeals Committee, Promotion and Tenure Committee, Advisory Committee to Arizona Respiratory Center Training Program, Standing Subcommittee for Preparation for Clinical Medicine Course, Furrow Advisory Committee, Dean’s Search Committee, and many others.

He has been a member of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) and served on several of its committees and subcommittees. He was a member of the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) Initial Review Group, Neurophysiology & Neuroanatomy Research Committee, and served as a special review consultant for NIDA as well.

Dr. French conducted funded research as principal investigator for NIDA, Arizona Disease Control Research Commission, the UA Purchase of Classroom Equipment for Instructional Computing, Sandoz Research Institute, Knoll Pharmaceuticals, NOVA Pharmaceutical Corporation, Vice President for Research at the UA research related to marijuana and dopamine neuron electrophysiology, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Astra Alab, Pfizer Corporation, the National Institute on Neurological Disorders, a Biomedical Research Support Grant for the UA College of Medicine, National Institute on Neurological Diseases, University of Maryland, Designated Research Initiative Funds, National Institute on Neurological Diseases, National Institute of General Medical Science, and have published more than 72 peer-reviewed research papers.

Ed had magical hands. He made beautiful woodwork, stained glass, and could fix nearly anything. He loved cars, especially fast ones, gaining the nickname and license plate FASTEDE, and in his last days built a 3900-piece McLaren LEGO model with his loving caregivers, neighbor, and wife.

He is survived by his loving wife, Vicki Gotkin, with whom he spent over 28 years, and to whom he was married nearly 23 years. He was a loving father to Lindsay Nicole French and Nicholas Alexander French (Leah Kaye), and stepfather to Steven Michael Adler and Kelsey Adler (Michael Gazzolo). He had five grandchildren, Chloe French-Rosas, Charles French-Rosas, Franklin Alexander French-Rosas, Benjamin French, and Martin French.

During the last six months of his life when Ed was in hospice care, many of his visitors were former graduate students, medical students, and faculty with whom he worked. Of note, they all shared that he was a brilliant man with a great sense of humor, and that his mentorship made them the scientists and physicians they are today. His sense of honor and loyalty, along with a wicked sense of humor, remains in the hearts of all he touched. 

The Department of Pharmacology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine will host a celebration of his academic career on November 10, 2025.