Profile Text
Date of Birth: 29 October, 1920
Place of Birth: Caracas, Venezuela
Date of Death: August 2, 2011
Place of Death: Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, U.S.
Ethnicity: Moroccan Jewish, Algerian Jewish
Baruj Benacerraf, also known as Baruch, was a Venezuelan-American immunologist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1980, along with Jean Dausset and George Davis Snell, for the “discovery of the Major histocompatibility complex genes which encode cell surface molecules important for the immune system’s distinction between self and non-self.”
He was the son of Henriette/Henrietta and Abraham Benacerraf, a textile merchant. His parents were North African Jews. His father was born in Spanish Morocco. His mother was born in French Algeria. His brother was philosopher Paul Benacerraf, working in the philosophy of mathematics. His family lived in Paris, France, for a time, then moved back to Venezuela, and then New York City, New York, U.S., in 1940. He was a citizen of Venezuela and the U.S.
Baruj was married to Annette Dreyfus, until her death, with whom he had a daughter, Beryl Benacerraf; who was a radiologist and professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive biology and radiology at Harvard University.
Baruj’s paternal great-grandfather was named Abraham Benacerraf.
Source: Genealogy of Baruj Benacerraf (focusing on his father’s side) – https://www.geni.com