David M. Livingston died suddenly on October 17, 2021 at the age of 80. He was a scientist’s scientist who contributed mightily to two, not one, textbook discoveries—the first being that the retinoblastoma gene product was a cell-cycle regulatory element that linked growth factor availability to S-phase entry and the second being that the BRCA1 gene product played an essential role in DNA repair and homologous combination. His cloning and characterization of p300 and p400 would have also been careerdefining for many scientists. David was a highly valued advisor to cancer centers, philanthropic organizations, pharmaceutical companies, and biotechnology investors because of his encyclopedic knowledge of science and medicine, his penetrating intelligence, and his wisdom grounded in the belief that our fundamental responsibility in science is to eventually help patients. The fact that he was funny and charming didn’t hurt. Finally, he was a tireless, generous advocate and mentor to young scientists, including those who were lucky enough to train in his laboratory and also countless scientists who were unaware of the sacrifices he made to improve their lots in science. David was born March 29, 1941 in Cambridge, Massachusetts and raised in Salem, Massachusetts. His grandparents were Jewish immigrants, and David’s family was one of the few Jewish families in Salem, where David unfortunately encountered anti-Semitism at an early age. David’s father built a successful air conditioning company, which allowed the Livingstons to enter the middle class. David was one of two children, although his sister would say that she ‘‘was the sister of an only child’’since the family grasped David’s intellect at an early age and was heavily focused on his future success. When David was 12, one of his father’s cousins, Dr. A. Stone Freedberg, gave David his first subscription to the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). Freedberg was a physician-scientist and is credited as being the first to discover the bacteria now known as H. Pylori, as well as its potential association with peptic ulcer disease. He abandoned this line of research, however, because he could not culture the bacteria and because others had difficulty replicating his findings. Although David was obviously unfamiliar with most of the medical jargon within the NEJM, he quickly became captivated by its medical images and liked tackling the weekly clinical puzzles presented in the NEJM’s clinicopathological conferences section. In addition, David was profoundly influenced by the fear of polio during his childhood, having known people who were affected and having seen images of children in iron lungs. The subsequent development of polio vaccines in the 1950s further galvanized his interest in medicine. David attended Exeter Academy and was very aware that he was one of its few Jewish students at that time. He excelled academically and also played goalie for the lacrosse team. David matriculated at Harvard, where he majored in history and belonged to the famous Krokodiloes a cappella group and the Hasty Pudding Club. A recording of David from that era suggests that he sang with more enthusiasm than raw talent. Nonetheless, these experiences probably contributed to the theatrical flair David brought to his lectures. David graduated from Harvard cum laude in 1961 and from Tufts Medical School magna cum laude in 1965. David graduated first in his class from Tufts, where he was also president of the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society and received numerous awards. While at Tufts, David met Dr. Morris Friedkin, who introduced him to laboratory-based cancer research and …