George Robert Pettit II (June 8, 1929 – September 21, 2021) was a Regents’ Professor in Chemistry in the School of Molecular Sciences (SMS) at Arizona State University.
Pettit has been honored by the International Cancer Advocacy Network,[1] the American Society of Pharmacognosy,[2] and Washington State University, his alma mater.
[6][7] Pettit’s foray in natural products chemistry began in the summer of 1953, working for DuPont in Orange, Texas, just prior to beginning his graduate studies at Wayne State University.
In 1965, Pettit was hired as a Professor of Chemistry by Arizona State University, where he continued his anticancer research while training hundreds of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows throughout his career.
[4][6] Pettit’s overall strategy involved the harvesting of natural agents from marine organisms, microorganisms, insects, and plant specimens that were tested for anticancer components.