In Memoriam: Dr. Joseph (Yosef) Walder
Dr. Walder was known as much for his cutting-edge science and business acumen as for his boundless generosity within the Orthodox Jewish community in Chicagoland and beyond.
- CBG Media & Communications
- April 3, 2024
We are saddened to share the heartbreaking news that Dr. Joseph Walder, Co-founder of the Walder Foundation, passed away last week. Dr. Walder was a former biochemistry professor and founder of IDT (Integrated DNA Technologies), the leading provider of synthetic RNA and DNA for life-sciences research. He was known as much for his cutting-edge science and business acumen as for his boundless generosity within and beyond the Orthodox Jewish community in Chicagoland.
Condolence messages to the Walder family can be sent to info@walderfoundation.org. Thank you for your kindness and understanding during this difficult time.
~Walder Foundation
To read the full tribute to Dr. Walder, click here.
“The decision by Joseph and Elizabeth to establish the Walder Foundation signalled their commitment to the improvement of their community and our world. Environmental sustainability is one of the five focal areas of the Foundation and two awards in this domain have allowed my colleagues and I to join with a wonderful team of Costa Rican biologists to advance knowledge of the species in that nation. The Foundation’s grants were catalytic – they provoked matching support from other philanthropic organizations and from national funding agencies. With this support, more than 170,000 species from Costa Rica, at least half previously unknown to science have been documented. The discovery of so many new species is a tremendous contribution to our world as this information will help to guide decisions as humanity shifts its behaviour to live in harmony with nature.”
~Paul Hebert
