It is our sad duty to inform you that our friend and colleague, Dr. Gary D. Lopaschuk, died of a heart attack on April 2, 2025, at the age of 69.
Gary was one of six founders and a Board Member (2003-2010) of the Society of Heart and Vascular Metabolism (SHVM). Gary will be greatly missed in our open, collegial community of investigators, both young and old.
Gary was born on June 4, 1955, in Port Alberni, a province in British Columbia. His father was a bush pilot, and his mother was a homemaker. The family later moved to Smithers, BC, where Gary grew up. In 1978, he graduated from the University of British Columbia with a degree in pharmacy. In 1983, he defended his PhD thesis on the effects of diabetes in cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum, mentored by Drs. John McNeill and Sidney Katz. A post-doctoral fellowship with Dr. J.R. (Bob) Neely at Penn State in Hershey, Pennsylvania (USA) solidified Gary’s independent career in cardiac metabolism. In 1986, he joined the faculty of the Department of Pediatrics Faculty of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, where he became a Distinguished University Professor in 2010.
Gary’s scientific legacy encompasses the whole breadth and depth of cardiac metabolism. Gary’s laboratory has studied mechanisms of metabolic adaption and maladaptation affecting the pump function of the heart. One focus of Gary’s research was the control of fatty acid metabolism in the normal, the stressed, and the diseased heart. This also included molecular and transcriptional mechanisms responsible for the rapid switch from carbohydrate to fatty acid oxidation in the newborn heart, the excessive rates of fatty acid oxidation by the heart in diabetes mellitus, and excess use of fatty acids exacerbating the consequences of ischemia.
Gary’s vibrant personality created a special atmosphere for all who met him. He was a great organizer of scientific meetings, including the memorable 8th SHVM Conference in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, in 2010, and a welcomed speaker at many international conferences, literally all around the world. In 2018, he was awarded SHVM’s highest honor — the "William C. Stanley" Award Lecture — at the 16th SHVM Conference in Charleston SC, USA in 2018.
Gary getting up at meetings and asking probing questions was always considered the hallmark of a good talk. He did not try to prove the speaker incorrect, but he prompted all of us to do further work and find the truth. Gary’s legacy for all of us is to emulate the high standards he has set.
Gary’s knowledge of cardiac metabolism was truly encyclopedic, and he was eager to share it with others. With a focus on malonyl-CoA and many other sensor metabolites, Gary developed the concept of “metabolic modulators” for heart disease, which is increasingly clinically relevant in the era of diabetes medications that have cardiac benefits. To continue the inquiry into how metabolism can be modulated for the benefit of patients with cardiac disease is Gary’s mandate for us and the new generation of investigators in the SHVM.
Gary is survived by his partner, Donna Andre, his sons David and Timothy Lopaschuk, and one grandchild. Last, and not least, he is survived by his vibrant laboratory, numerous former trainees and close collaborators, as well as his SHVM family. We extend our deep sympathies to all and will honor his legacy by continuing the SHVM’s mission to investigate heart and vascular metabolism. He was truly a great researcher and a good man. He will be missed.
On behalf of the SHVM Presidents, past and present, and the Board of the SHVM (with special thanks to Heinrich Taegtmeyer and Jason Dyck).
