Seymour Lester Shapiro (1916 - 1961) was an organic chemist best known for his pioneering work on a class of drugs used to treat symptoms of adult-onset diabetes.
During the period 1936 - 41, Shapiro was employed in the Railway Mail Service and as a quantitative organic microanalyst at Van Ameringen-Haebler in Elizabeth, NJ (later part of International Flavors & Fragrances).
He was then assigned as Toxicologist in the 15th Medical General Laboratory and then as Chemist of the Board for the Study of the Severely Wounded, Mediterranean Theater of Operations.
[5] The work for Shapiro's doctoral thesis, "Reaction of Phenyl Biguanide with Esters and Related Compounds", published in JACS in 1954, was performed at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn and in the laboratories of the Arlington Chemical Co. and US Vitamin Corp. under the direction of Prof. Charles G. Overberger.
The subject range included blood chemistry, anesthetics, androgens, biguanides, diuretics, indanols, indandiones, triazines and others.
In an ironic turn, after a successful career in the field of hypoglycemic and blood chemistry, he fell victim to diabetes (Type 1, against which DBI was not effective) and leukemia.