With thick, "Coke-bottle" eyeglass lenses, a vast command of science, and a soft-spoken demeanor, Murray Saffran fit the 1970s stereotype of the brilliant scientist who just might snare a Nobel Prize.

Mr. Saffran, a retired Medical College of Ohio biochemist who died Tuesday in his Ottawa Hills home at age 79 from complications of heart disease, barely missed bringing the Nobel to Toledo in one of the great "look-who-they-left-out" episodes in the prize's history.

Beyond the near miss, Mr. Saffran in the 1950s pioneered a new field of science that has helped thousands of patients with diseases ranging from infertility to delayed growth in childhood.

"Murray Saffran was one of the great pioneers in neuroendocrinology," Andrew Schally said in an interview from Tulane University in New Orleans. Neuroendocrinology focuses on links between the nervous system and glands like the thyroid, pancreas, pituitary, ovaries, and testis. "He was a great scientist, a great teacher, and the loss is great."

Mr. Schally shared the 1977 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discovery of a family of brain hormones. They signal the pituitary gland to release its own hormones - substances so important for good health that the pituitary is called the body's "master gland."

One of these hormone triggers, called growth-hormone releasing factor, is used to treat children who otherwise would not grow to full height. It also gets attention as a possible "fountain of youth" drug to restore vigor in the elderly. Another, called somatostatin, found use in controlling internal bleeding during surgery.

In 1955, Mr. Schally was a student in Mr. Saffran's laboratory at McGill University in Montreal when the two discovered the first of the new hormones. Mr. Saffran received his doctorate in biochemistry from McGill.

"He easily could have grabbed all the credit for himself," Mr. Schally recalled. "But instead, he shared it with me." They jointly authored the landmark scientific paper that proved the existence of hormone-releasing hormones.

Although the Nobel Prize documents mentioned Mr. Saffran's role, he got no share of the prize. Mr. Schally and co-recipient Roger Guillemin pressed the research ahead, the committee apparently reckoned. Mr. Saffran moved on to new interests.

"I could tell he was very disappointed since the research was done in his own lab," said G. Colin Budd, a retired MCO professor who worked with Mr. Saffran. "But I never heard an unkind word about it."

Mr. Schally made an observation echoed by many who knew Mr. Saffran as he taught, did research, organized the department of biochemistry at McGill, and, in 1969, did the same in Toledo at what then was the nation's newest medical college.

"Murray was a very, very nice person," Mr. Schally said. "He was genuinely concerned about his students and treated them well. We got to know his wife, Judy, and were like family. He became my personal friend."

Mr. Budd said that dedication to teaching new generations of doctors continued as Mr. Saffran's vision - always poor - got worse as retirement neared in the 1990s.

"Murray was very dedicated to teaching medical students and spent a lot of time running tutorial programs for them," Mr. Budd noted.

Like Mr. Saffran, Mr. Budd was among the first faculty hired by MCO. He arrived from the United Kingdom six weeks before the start of classes, with little knowledge of American teaching methods.

"He taught me how to do it in a kind and gracious way," Mr. Budd said.

Frank Saul, another original MCO faculty member, said Mr. Saffran developed a method of showing continuous overhead projection images during classroom lectures that was a forerunner to computer PowerPoint presentations.

"He was years ahead of the times," said Mr. Saul, who heads the regional branch of a federal emergency response agency.

Mr. Saffran seemed to delight in playing the mild-mannered scientist who lived by the understatement, said Morris Givner, a Canadian scientist who knew him at McGill.

"Behind those thick eyeglass lenses, you could never tell if he was serious or not," Mr. Givner said. "He had this formal, almost aristocratic air, and a very dry sense of humor that could catch you off guard."

Dr. Neilma J. Budd, a retired MCO pathologist, said Mr. Saffran sometimes delighted in confounding associates by talking to them in Yiddish.

Mr. Saffran's research in the 1990s turned to development of a form of insulin that could be taken by mouth, rather than injection. His last scientific paper, published in 2000, was devoted to that pursuit.

In retirement, Mr. Saffran delighted in the company of his wife, Judith; sons, David, Arthur, and Richard; daughter, Wilma, and eight grandchildren.

He built sailboats in his garage and sailed them, and despite failing eyesight pecked out e-mails and letters on the computer keyboard to keep in touch with friends and colleagues.

"Murray was amazing," Neilma Budd said. "Such an erudite man. He had a vast amount of knowledge, and knew about everything. Best of all, he was a very sweet person."

There will be no visitation A memorial service is being planned. The Robert H. Wick/Wisniewski Funeral Home is handling arrangements.

The family suggests tributes to the MCO Foundation.

Contact Michael Woods at:

mwoods@nationalpress.com.

First Published October 27, 2004, 11:23 a.m.