York Marahrens

life story

A beloved husband, father, scientist, colleague, mentor, and friend

About York

York Hinrich Marahrens passed away July 21, 2024 after a short and difficult battle with an aggressive glioblastoma. He was 60 years old.

York was born October 10, 1963 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada to German immigrants Gerwin and Elsa Marahrens. York spent his early years traveling between Canada and Germany, completed Kindergarten in Germany, and spoke only German when he started grade 1. He spoke of the cognitive dissonance created by simultaneously existing in both Canadian and German worlds, particularly as Gerwin insisted only German be spoken at home ("Deutsch sprechen!"). Having spent his entire adult life in the US it was hard to detect York's Canadian accent, but there were still words he pronounced as a German speaker, to the amusement of his children.

York graduated from Old Strathcona Academic High School and the University of Alberta, where he was a Genetics major and worked for Dr. Asad Ahmed. Dr. Ahmed advised York to do his PhD at SUNY Stonybrook so that he could complete his graduate work at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories, which York did in the lab of Dr. Bruce Stillman. York's time in graduate school did not include much sleep, as he worked at night so he would not have to compete for equipment or space, and so he could go to New York City clubs and do his experiments afterwards. Despite these habits, York did important PhD research and is best known for defining the sequence of a eukaryotic origin of replication (Marahrens and Stillman 1992, Science 255:817-23). Because replication timing is affected by heterochromatin status, York became interested in chromatin, and decided to pursue his postdoc studying heterochromatin formation at a chromosomal scale, moving to Dr. Rudolf Jaenisch's lab at MIT's Whitehead Institute in 1994 to work on X-inactivation. While at the Whitehead, York knocked out Xist and showed it was required for X-inactivation, among other important observations. He also met and married Laura, a graduate student in the lab next door. After securing a tenure-track position at UCLA, York moved to Los Angeles and built a bustling lab studying Xist, DNA replication, and chromosomal integrity, while Laura did postdoctoral work at Caltech. During their 8 years in LA, they had two sons, Kai and Luka. As York drove a Porsche Boxster at the time, he had a special car seat installed that inactivated the passenger side air bag so he could pick up Kai from day care and safely transport him home. As the boys neared school age and Laura looked for a faculty position, the appeal of better schools and two tenure-track jobs drew the pair to the University of Minnesota, where York stayed for the remainder of his career.

York was known for his loyalty and integrity, his impatience for the mundane, his penchant for saying something provocative to "make things interesting", and his love of rap music since its origins in the 80's. If you gave York something to read, he would tear apart the grammar, the science, and your foundational hypothesis and push you to make it better. His ability to make pointed scientific observations influenced many people's research (including Laura's). He enjoyed teaching, and was known for cracking corny jokes and caring about his students, though he was probably difficult for those who did not enjoy going deep into genetics--once you got York talking about a DNA-related topic (replication, damage, repair, heterochromatin), it was hard to get him to stop. He was a rare husband in a scientific partnership who respected and valued his wife’s research and career as much as his own.

At home, York built an outdoor nirvana for his kids, including a custom tree house, an XL sand box, a swing set, a 15 foot slide down a hillside, a zip line, and a go-kart. He was a dad who shared fully in parenting responsibilities, and his laissez-faire approach meant his boys got to explore, take risks, and learn from mistakes. If Kai or Luka asked a question, like how fast is our solar system revolving around the super massive black hole at the center of our universe, York got the answer--and he answered a lot of questions like this, often emailing experts to find out. If the kids wanted to make hydrogen, York rigged up a contraption so they could. If Kai or Luka wanted to build something, York made sure they had the tools to do it. While Laura is a spendthrift, York urged their family to travel, which they did widely as much as their research and teaching schedules would allow. Having grown up in Canada as a German island of three, York was a bit overwhelmed at times by his acquired American family, but he nevertheless enjoyed being part of a large family network, especially when his nieces and nephews were young.

York is survived by his wife Laura Gammill Marahrens, his sons Kai Gerwin Marahrens and Luka Robert Marahrens, uncle Dirk Hoffmann and cousins Frauke Hoffmann and Till Hoffmann (Berlin, Germany), mother- and father-in-law Robert and Susan Gammill (Livingston, MT), brothers- and sisters-in-law Richard and Amy Gammill (Shorewood, MN) and David and Sarah Gammill (Excelsior, MN), and nieces and nephews James, Allison, Nicholas, Molly, Oliver, Arlo, and Lucy Gammill. York also leaves behind many colleagues, friends, and students who mourn his loss to the scientific endeavor.

memorial service

Time, location, and date of a memorial to be determined

An opportunity for us to gather to remember York's life will be arranged when we can all be together on one continent. More details to come.