Daniel Schaeffer Kemp an American organic chemist and an emeritus professor of chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – died from respiratory complications due to COVID-19 near Concord, Massachusetts.
He is survived by his legacy as a giant of chemistry and teaching, revered by the countless students and a close group of associates he trained, mentored and inspired during his unique and celebrated life.
His close companion over the last 35+ years, cockatoo Octavian (“Tavvy”), has been placed in loving care.
Kemp’s work was focused on the synthesis and conformational analysis of peptides. He developed several chemical ligation strategies and methods for templating the formation of helices and sheets.
The eponymous Kemp’s triacid and the Kemp elimination reaction (and the Kemp decarboxylation variant) are among his developments. He is the author of an organic chemistry textbook.
Kemp was born in Portland, Oregon. He received his Bachelor of Arts in chemistry from Reed College in 1958 and his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1964 where he was elected to the Harvard Society of Fellows.