Grant Fairbanks, Jr.Camarillo, CAGrant Fairbanks, Jr., age 77, died on Friday, July 7, 2017, in Somis, California. Grant was born on May 17, 1940, in Iowa City to Grant Fairbanks, Sr. and Helen Loretta (Cornelius) Fairbanks. He is a descendent of Jonathan Fairbanks, who emigrated from England in 1633 and built the Fairbanks House in Dedham, Massachusetts, which is the oldest frame house in the United States. Grant grew up in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, where his father was a Professor and researcher at the University of Illinois in the area of Speech Pathology and Linguistics. He attended University High School in Champaign-Urbana, where he was Student Body President and excelled as a scholar, singer, and athlete. He was a National Merit Scholarship finalist and won the Bausch & Lomb Honorary Science Award in 1957. Grant continued on to Grinnell College, where he was an outstanding cross country and track runner. He graduated from Grinnell in 1961 with a B.S. in Physics, with honors, and was one of 7 Phi Beta Kappa Seniors on the Grinnell track team. He then moved east and attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he earned a Ph.D. in Biochemistry. Grant worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard Medical School and began his highly-acclaimed work with gel electrophoresis. His research and findings regarding gel staining technique were published in Biochemistry in 1971. The "Fairbanks staining techniques" are still widely used in gel electrophoresis research, and the 1971 article has been cited in 7,000 scientific papers.In 1972, Grant accepted a staff scientist position at the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology in Shrewsbury Massachusetts, where he ran a research laboratory for 20 years. During that time he received several awards for his work, including the American Cancer Society "Cancer Research Scholar" award (1973-1976); the Admiral Earl Award from Worcester Engineering Society; and an alumni award from Grinnell College for his groundbreaking work in red cell membrane research. He then moved to the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Massachusetts where he was Director of Clinical Chemistry in the Hematology Laboratory. Grant retired from UMass Medical School in 1999 due to his struggle with Parkinson's disease, which had afflicted him since the early 80s.Grant married his college sweetheart, Ellen Wolz Kelly, in December 1962, and was the owner of two very naughty Basenjis (Simon and Fritzi), and the father of two very well-behaved daughters (Katherine and Martha). Both daughters were champion runners, and Grant spent many happy hours cheering them and their teams to victory.Grant participated in many community activities in the Town of Shrewsbury. He was a Little League Coach, President of the Tri-Town Exchange Club, member of the Shrewsbury Community Service Board of Directors, and sang in the choir of the First Congregational Church. He loved fishing on Cape Cod, reading, watching movies, and working on complicated home repairs.After retiring Grant, renewed a friendship with a high school classmate, Mary (Heller) Rawcliffe who, many years before, had sung in the choir with him at Uni High. They married in 2003 and settled first in Ojai, California, and then in Camarillo, California, where Grant continued his passion for home repairs and movies, while Mary continued her work as a classical voice instructor at University of Southern California. Grant and Mary both were avid family genealogists and researched the Fairbanks family, especially the Fairbanks brothers who fought in the Civil War in the 3rd Regiment of the Vermont Volunteer Infantry and Calvin Fairbank, a Methodist pastor turned abolitionist who freed 47 slaves and served 17 years in prison for his efforts. Grant and Mary and Grant's brother, Lee Fairbanks, visited historical societies along the Fairbanks family's path from the East Coast to the Midwest to California. Although his Parkinson's disease limited his activity, he continued to participate in his community, serving as president of the Parkinson's Support Group and attending many concerts in which his wife, Mary, a professional singer, performed.Grant Fairbanks is survived by his loving wife, Mary; his brother, Lee McGee Fairbanks (Annie); his sister, Janet Thomas (Dan); his daughters, Katherine Spencer Sargent (Michael) of Des Moines, Iowa and Dr. Martha Perry (Chad) of Chapel Hill, North Carolina; six grandchildren: Austin and Alonzo Spencer, Audrey and Kapri Sargent, and Isabel and Cameron Perry; his stepdaughter, Christine (Stephen) Busch and their 3 sons, Kevin, David, and Will; and his first wife, Ellen Wolz Kelly Smith. He was preceded in death by his parents, Grant and Helen Fairbanks, and by his stepson, Eric Rawcliffe.A celebration of life for Grant Fairbanks, Jr. will be held on October 21, in Ojai, California. Burial will take place at the Hillside Memorial Park in Redlands, California, where his parents are buried.