Frank Rauscher; Scientist, Ex-Head of Cancer Institute

Frank J. Rauscher Jr., a former director of the National Cancer Institute who discovered one of the most-studied animal cancer viruses, has died.

Rauscher was 61 when he died on Thursday of a heart attack.

A scientist for the National Cancer Institute from 1959 to 1976, he was appointed director in 1972 by President Richard M. Nixon to spearhead the Administration’s “war on cancer” program.

He discovered that a virus that results in a form of leukemia in mice is valuable in cancer research because of the speed with which it develops.

During his tenure, financing for the institute grew from $377 million to $815 million.

He resigned in 1976 to become senior vice president for research at the private American Cancer Society from 1976 until 1980, when he became executive director of the Thermal Insulation Manufacturers’ Assn. in Stamford, Conn.