Maurice Gerard Kleve Jr.

Maurice Gerard Kleve, Jr., age 71, died on March 3, 2017 at UAMS hospital after suffering for four years with Alzheimer's disease and congestive heart failure. Maury was born July 20, 1945, becoming the eldest of five children raised in a big farm house in Dundas, Minnesota, by Maurice G. Kleve Sr., an independent truck driver, and Irene Doris Kleve (née Smith). A voracious reader as a young boy, he walked often to the local library where he cultivated a love of science fiction. When he wasn't fishing or secreted away reading, Maury spent his youth helping both parents on the farm. He exhibited a strong mechanical aptitude building loud go-karts and then racing them past the local police station. Maury attended Northfield High School before graduating in 1969 from Mankato State College, Minn., with a Bachelor of Science degree in cell biology, going on to complete his PhD. work in cell biology/developmental biology with the University of Houston. While getting his PhD. he worked alongside researchers at the National Marine Fisheries Service in Galveston, Texas, exploring the creation of movement on a cellular level via protein actin filaments using sea urchin sperm and shrimp tails. During his work he met his second wife, Loretta Annette Ross (née Griffin), who was responsible for culturing the shrimp he needed in his experiments. He won her over with his intelligence and gentle nature, thick jet-black hair, and crystal blue eyes. They married at the Galveston, Texas, county courthouse on April Fool's Day (April 1, 1977) and moved to California, where the newly minted Dr. Kleve completed his post-doctoral research at the University of California, Davis. Having both been raised with a love of nature, Maury and Loretta decided to raise their family surrounded by the natural world. They purchased a house on six acres in Loretta's home state of Arkansas and Maury began a teaching professorship at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) in the fall of 1980. After a miscarriage in 1978, Loretta gave birth to their daughter Ann in 1981. Living briefly in Texas, they eventually settled in west Little Rock for the duration of their 37 year marriage. Maury ran a laboratory at UALR for nearly 35 years, formally retiring as professor emeritus in 2015. There he taught courses in cell and developmental biology, microscopy, biotechnology, and molecular biology. Students and colleagues alike got to experience his insightful but often irreverent humor. He branded any ignorant behavior as something "slap-dog nuts." Atypical amongst researchers, he embraced teaching the large lecture hall Introduction to Biology classes every Fall and Spring because he wanted "to get their minds while they're still fresh" and hopefully make more scientists. He was a constant tinkerer. His untapped artistic talent as an illustrator found a home in his precise images of microscopic life, particularly nematodes (microscopic roundworms). In addition to his own research, Maury had uncredited photos in many scientific publications and advised many young scientists in lost laboratory arts both maintaining and using research equipment. He was responsible for running the scanning electron microscope at UALR for many years and was the "emergency microscope doctor" around campus. He manufactured his own "gene gun" and created techniques to explosively transfer DNA into cells. As a classical naturalist, he attempted to catalogue all of the thousands of mermithids (parasitic nematodes) in Lake Itasca in Minnesota while still doing a little fishing. In his long career as an educator in science Maurice taught thousands of young minds to examine their beliefs rationally, to understand the scientific method and processes of evolution, and to love the complexity and interconnectedness of all the organisms on our planet. His greatest joys were in the successes of his students. He was able to gift his daughter Ann with his curiosity, his intense love of learning, and scientific literacy. For Dr. Kleve science was a process rather than a body of knowledge, a method of acquiring wisdom, and a candle against darkness in the world. He is survived by his daughter and long-term caregiver Annette Raschel Kleve of Little Rock; his two brothers, John Vernon (Barb) and Thomas Kleve; his sisters Maureen Vosejpka (Gary) and Marlene Ellingson (Stephen Krech), all of Minnesota, and their families. He will be missed by lifelong friend Steve Schiller and his loyal first graduate student Martha Hubbard. Maury was very fond of his bonus grandchildren from his marriage to Loretta, William Robert Meyer and Rose Mae Meyer, and loved visiting them. In the final years of his life, he was also supported and cared for devotedly by one of his former students, Whitney M. Tevebaugh. Maury and Ann were grateful for the loving care they both received from nursing staff on floor F6 of UAMS during Maury's final months. Visitation will be Thursday, March 9 beginning at 6 p.m., followed by a Vigil and Rosary Service at 7 p.m. at Christ the King. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated by Msgr. Francis I. Malone on Friday, March 10 at 11:30 a.m. at the church, followed by interment at 3 p.m. at East Lawn Cemetery in Marshall, Arkansas, alongside his wife Loretta. Arrangements by Little Rock Funeral Home, 8801 Knoedl Ct., (501) 224-2200. Dr. Kleve's online guestbook may be signed at www.littlerockfuneralhome.com.