Daniel Mazia; Stanford Biologist, Expert on Cells

Daniel Mazia, 83, Stanford biologist who was an expert on cell structure and cell division. Mazia grew up in Philadelphia and earned his degrees at the University of Pennsylvania. He taught zoology at the University of Missouri with time out for military service during World War II, and then taught at UC Berkeley from 1951 until his retirement in 1979. What he termed “a new boyhood” began when he was recruited to teach biological sciences at Stanford and continue cell research at the university’s Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove. He had recently completed a term as president of the International Cell Research Organization of UNESCO and had continued his research and teaching until his death. Mazia is best known for his study of mitosis, or cell division, in 1951. On June 30 in Monterey, Calif., of heart failure and cancer.