Fred Sherman (May 21, 1932 – September 16, 2013) was an American scientist who pioneered the use of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model for studying the genetics, molecular biology, and biochemistry of eukaryotic cells.

[1][2][3][4] His research encompassed broad areas of yeast biology including gene expression, protein synthesis, messenger RNA processing, bioenergetics, and mechanisms of mutagenesis.

This was partly through his role for 17 years as co-instructor, with Gerald Fink, of a summer course in yeast genetics at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory that trained many scientists who went on to make their own seminal contributions in broad areas of biology.

The family lived in a single room behind his father's grocery store in which Sherman and his younger sister, since their early childhood, often served customers in the absence of their parents.

By focusing on CYC1, the gene encoding one form of the yeast mitochondrial protein cytochrome c, he was able to answer many fundamental questions including the universality of the genetic code.

[citation needed] In 1970 Sherman co-founded, with Gerald Fink, the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory course in yeast genetics and molecular biology, in which he continued to serve as co-director until 1987.