“He was unfailingly a voice of reason and optimism and always sought to find ways to make things happen, refusing to take 'no' for an answer.”
Duane Roth, CEO of the San Diego regional entrepreneurial support organization Connect and a vice chairman of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, died August 3 from injuries suffered during a biking accident, according to a notice on the CIRM website. He was 63.
Roth suffered the injuries during an accident July 21.
“He was one of the true stewards of the mission, offering countless insights on the role of industry in the world of regenerative medicine and how best to drive therapies efficiently through to patients,” says Jonathan Thomas, chair of board of CIRM. "He was unfailingly a voice of reason and optimism and always sought to find ways to make things happen, refusing to take 'no' for an answer.”
Roth, a pharmaceutical industry veteran, served as CEO of Connect since 2005. Connect, based in La Jolla, California, fosters entrepreneurship in the San Diego region by assisting new business formation of technology and life sciences companies. Prior to joining Connect, Roth founded Alliance Pharmaceutical, where he served as CEO and chairman of the board for more than 25 years. Earlier in his career, he held senior management positions at Johnson & Johnson and American Home Products, which was later acquired by Pfizer.
He has served as a member of the board of directors and executive committees of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, the California Healthcare Institute and was a past chair of the San Diego biotechnology trade association Biocom.
In 2006, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Roth to the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee for the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, California’s stem cell institute created by Proposition 71. He was elected vice chairman of the board of CIRM in 2009.
Roth served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute and a member of the board of directors of SAIC-Frederick, the contractor to the National Cancer Institute. In addition, he was a member of a number of advisory committees and boards of the University of California, including the President’s Board on Science and Innovation, the UC San Diego Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center (past Chair), the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, the UC San Diego Health Sciences advisory board and the UC San Diego Foundation Board of Directors (past Chair).
He also served on the San Diego State University College of Business (past Chair) and the Sciences & Engineering advisory boards. Roth was a member of the executive board for the California State University Professional Science Masters Program.
He earned a B.S. from Iowa Wesleyan College, where he served as a trustee.
August 04, 2013
http://www.burrillreport.com/article-duane_roth_california_industry_leader_dies_at_63.html