Charles Daniel, professor emeritus of biology and a founding faculty member at UC Santa Cruz, died in Berkeley on Wednesday, August 10. He was 83.
Daniel was a distinguished biologist whose research focused on cell physiology, tumor biology, and aging. His work contributed to the understanding of how mammary tissues develop and the genetic and hormonal factors involved in breast cancer.
Daniel and another fellow of Cowell College, history professor Page Smith, published The Chicken Book in 1975, decades before backyard chickens became trendy. Reprinted in 2000, the book had its origins in a course Daniel and Smith taught together in 1972, and it encompassed everything from chicken biology and behavior to the chicken's role in literature and history.
A long-serving chair of the biology department at UC Santa Cruz, Daniel also served as dean of graduate studies and acting associate academic vice chancellor. He received the Outstanding Faculty Award from the Division of Natural Sciences in 1994. He earned his B.A. in literature and mathematics at the University of New Mexico, M.S. in zoology at the University of Hawaii, and Ph.D. in zoology at UC Berkeley.
Daniel is survived by his sister, Laura Powers, children Paul, Matthew, and Carla Daniel, and six grandchildren.
