Sidney R. Kushner

Sidney R. Kushner (December 14, 1943-December 11, 2024) enjoyed an outstanding career that culminated in his appointment as Distinguished Research Professor in Genetics at the University of Georgia. During his fifty years at the university, he published over 150 publications and obtained over three million dollars for innovative research from the National Institutes of Health. He achieved renown for his groundbreaking work on polyadenylation in E. coli to understand how mRNAs were targeted for degradation. His research reflected how modern genetics developed in close linkage to biochemistry.

As a founding member of the Genetics Program and its second department head, he mentored over sixty undergraduates, advised over 27 doctorates, and supervised over 20 postdoctoral students. He especially advocated for women in science. A fellow of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science and the American Society of Microbiology, he received his Ph.D. from Brandeis University in 1970.

He enjoyed a rich family life with his wife of 55 years, Deena Dash Kushner, their two children, Aaron (Rochelle) and Ze’eva, and their three grandchildren, Marcus, Mirabella, and Magnolia Kushner who survive him, as does his brother Arthur. Sidney and Deena loved to dance and explored diverse forms from international folk dance and Israeli dance to waltz and contradance. The son of the late Joseph B. Kushner and Dora Cohen Kushner, he grew up in Pennsylvania and Indiana, and earned his bachelors from Oberlin.

Funeral services will be held Sunday, December 15, at 2:00 pm at Bernstein Funeral Home. Interment will follow in the Congregation Children of Israel section at Oconee Hill Cemetery.

Bernstein Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.