EarlStadtman was a biochemist who devoted hisresearchcareerto identifying the mechanisms of cellular energy expenditure and metabolism. He focused his work on anaerobic bacteria, which are microorganisms that thrive in the absence of oxygen.In his postdoctoral position at the Harvard Medical School,Stadtmandiscovered the role of acyl-CoA derivatives in synthesizing fatty acids and metabolizing two-carbon compounds. He met hisfuturewife, ThressaCampbell,when they were both studying at the University of California at Berkeley and they were married in 1943. At the completion of his post-doctorate in 1950, both he and his wife Thressajoined the then-National Heart Institute(NHI). He started working in theEnzyme Sectionof the Laboratory of Physiology and Metabolism of theNHI. He was soonnamedChief of that Section. In 1962 he rose to Chief of the Laboratory of Biochemistry of what had become the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). In the 1960s and 1970s, he and his coworkers identified the role of the enzyme glutaminesynthetasein formation of the amino acid glutamine. He went on to describe the metabolism of anaerobic bacteria.He was the author or co-author of more than 375 scientific papers.Stadtmanreceived numerous awards includingin 1979the National Medal of Science. The National CancerInstitutenamed a program for new tenure-track investigators the StadtmanInvestigators in his honor.He died in 2008 at the age of 88.