In memoriam: Bernard Jortner, professor emeritus of biomedical sciences and pathobiology

Bernard Jortner, a Virginia Tech professor emeritus who was an internationally known researcher in neurotoxicology and founding president of the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine faculty association, died on Sept. 28 at the age of 90.

Jortner was a professor of biomedical sciences and pathobiology in the veterinary college before being conferred emeritus status upon his retirement in 2010. He had been associated with the veterinary college since its opening in 1980, contributing to research in neuropathology, neurotoxicology, and veterinary pathology. He served as co-director, along with professor emerita Marion Ehrich, of the Virginia Tech Laboratory for Neurotoxicity Studies.

"He will be missed," said Pam Lein, editor-in-chief of the journal Neurotoxicology and a member of the veterinary faculty at the University of California, Davis. "But his work has left a lasting imprint on the field of neurotoxicology." 

Jortner wrote 111 publications, one as recently as 2021, with over 2,500 citations. In 2005, Jortner received the Pfizer Award for Research Excellence.

"Bernie Jortner and I were scientific collaborators for over 30 years, a collaboration that resulted in over 45 joint publications," said Ehrich. "Included in this effort were numerous colleagues, three postdoctoral research associates and a dozen graduate students. We are known nationally and internationally for seminal work on organophosphorus-induced delayed neuropathy, a disorder that occurs clinically in humans and chickens, but not in laboratory rodents."

In addition to federally funded research projects, Jortner and Ehrich tapped into industry funding in neurotoxicology during the early 1990s requiring regulatory compliance with federal Good Laboratory Practice regulations. Combining Jortner's neuropathology expertise with Ehrich's toxicology expertise, they created the NeuroSafe program, which built upon their research expertise in organophosphorus-induced delayed neuropathy.

Jortner and Ehrich became the co-directors of the Laboratory for Neurotoxicity Studies (LNS), which offered Good Laboratory Practice-compliant contract services to industry in neurotoxicity testing at a time when such regulatory work in an academic environment was challenging and neurotoxicology services were not abundant at contract research organizations, said Sandy Hancock, a longtime assistant in their research and now manager of the Fralin Imaging Center and the Fralin Life Sciences Institute's Biotech-in-a-Box outreach program.

"I worked with Dr. Jortner for over 25 years,” Hancock said. ”Every day, I felt supported personally and professionally; I am grateful. When Dr. Jortner retired in 2010 at the age of 76, he continued to work and LNS continued to bring in funding.  Dr. Jortner left Blacksburg in 2018; LNS closed in 2022 when I took a position with FLSI."

Jortner spearheaded the marketing strategy to showcase how LNS expertise could support safety studies in drug and product development, Hancock recalled, by creating and distributing brochures, representing the lab at the Society of Toxicology's annual meeting with an informational booth, and collaborating with veterinary college graphic designer Terry Lawrence to design the LNS logo, which was printed on T-shirts for the LNS team.

"It was indeed my honor and privilege to work with such a humble, caring individual," Hancock said. "From the time that I was hired in 1989 as a microscopist to support the first Ehrich-Jortner grant, Dr. Jortner referred to me using the term 'colleague.' Whereas others in my position were often called 'technicians,' I was regarded as a colleague. “ 

"There was no task in our workstream that was too menial for him to do," Hancock added. "If needed, he was at the lab at 6 a.m. to start a long day of necropsies and he was performing dissections at the necropsy table until after 7 p.m. to ensure that we could meet the demanding timeline of an industry contract."

In addition to leading the veterinary college's faculty association, Jortner served as a member of the Faculty Senate, University Council, and Strategic Budgeting and Planning Committee.

On top of his service to faculty colleagues, Jortner was known for his mentorship and guidance of his students and laboratory aides.

"He was a very kind and self-effacing man," said Lynnette Tobias DVM '87 Ph.D. '91, a veterinary medical officer for the USDA. "Bernie always had time to sit with me at the double-headed microscope to share his expansive knowledge of neuroanatomy and was quick to help me any way he could. He knew I was a struggling new graduate with a very young child and was finding it difficult to make ends meet so when he could, he would offer me part-time work in projects he was working on. I'll always be grateful for his help and his kindness."

"Dr. Jortner did not have a warm and sunny disposition," recalled Bonnie Brenseke Ph.D. '12, a Veterinary Teaching Hospital resident mentored by Jortner and now associate professor and biomedical chair of pathology at Campbell University's School of Osteopathic Medicine. "If I am honest, I would describe him as endearingly grumpy. One could not accuse him of seeing things through rose-colored glasses. He was a realist. As a mentor, he had high standards, quick to correct when a word was mispronounced or used incorrectly or when missteps occurred."

Jortner was born in 1934 in Brooklyn, New York, the son of immigrants who left eastern Europe after World War I. Jortner received his veterinary degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master's degree from the University of Connecticut. He served as a veterinarian with the U.S. Air Force in Germany from 1958 to 1960, dealing with food service sanitation, insect and rodent control, and attending to 30 sentry dogs and pets of military personnel. 

Jortner had academic stints at Penn, Connecticut, Yale, and the New Jersey Medical School before being hired by the new veterinary college at Virginia Tech in 1980.

He was active in many professional organizations. Jortner served on the editorial board of the Journal of Veterinary Pathology and was a member of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists, American Association of Neuropathologists, American Society for Investigative Pathology, Society of Toxicologic Pathology, International Academy of Pathology, International Brain Research Organization, Society for Neuroscience, Society of Toxicology, and the Peripheral Nerve Society.

Jortner is survived by his wife of 61 years, Carol, and three children: Susan Deely, David Jortner (wife Maura), and Adam Jortner (wife Emily). He has seven grandchildren.

Jortner's two sons followed him into academia: David Jortner is a professor of theatre arts and graduate program director in the Department of Theatre Arts at Baylor University, while Adam Jortner is the Goodwin-Philpott Eminent Professor of Religion in the Department of History at Auburn University.