Jerry J. Tulis, Ph.D., 86, associate professor emeritus of community and family medicine, passed away Dec. 24. A funeral mass was held Dec. 30 in Greenville, N.C.
Tulis joined the Department of Community and Family Medicine’s Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM) in 1990. From 1990 to 2001, Tulis was director of OEM’s Biohazard Science Program, was program chair of the Biohazard Science/Occupational and Environmental Health & Safety graduate curriculum at the Nicholas School of the Environment and was deputy director of the Duke Marine Laboratory in Beaufort, N.C. He also served as the national director of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Biohazard Risk Assessment Program.
In 2001, Tulis became consulting emeritus professor for OEM and graduate lecturer for the Nicholas School.
Prior to joining Duke in 1990, Tulis was professor and chair of the graduate program in biohazard science curriculum at the School of Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill. He also worked at the Becton, Dickinson and Company Corporate Research Center in RTP and in Maryland, at the U.S. Army Biological Warfare Laboratory in Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md., as a lecturer at Frederick Community College in Frederick, Md., and at Merck, Sharpe & Dohme Research Laboratories in West Point, Penn., and Rahway, N.J.
Tulis continued to consult and be engaged in the biohazard science industry for about 10 years after retiring, said Wayne R. Thomann, DrPH, assistant professor of community and family medicine in OEM.
“He and I worked on a lot of projects all around the world.” Thomann said. “He kept consulting and working in the industry. He was a recognized expert.”
Thomann, who recruited Tulis to Duke from UNC and was a student in his UNC graduate program, said one of Tulis’ areas of expertise was mold contamination in buildings, and he was part of the first group to write guidelines for managing mold contamination in buildings.
Debra L. Hunt, DrPH, assistant professor of community and family medicine in OEM, said Tulis was one of the leaders in the profession and has left a real legacy.
“He had the foresight to know that biohazard science was a graduate curriculum,” Hunt said, adding that his graduate curriculum at UNC was the first in the country.
Thomann said Tulis was very committed to his family, to the Catholic Church and to teaching.
“He had more interest and passion and commitment to his students of almost anybody I’ve ever met,” Thomann said. “He really went out of his way to continue to enhance [his students’] growth and professional development.”
“There’s really a great sense of loss,” Thomann added. “He was the best friend, comrade and colleague to everybody.”
Tulis graduated with a bachelor of science from the University of Illinois in 1953, with a master of science from Loyola University in 1955, and a doctor of philosophy from Catholic University of America in 1965. Tulis served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, 9th Infantry Battalion, Chicago, Ill., and Camp Lejeune, N.C. from 1957 to 1959.
A native of Chicago, Tulis lived in Raleigh for 50 years. He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Doris A. Tulis; sons, Timothy A. Tulis and wife, Marilu, of Raleigh, and David A. Tulis and wife, Sylvia, of Winterville; and eight grandchildren. He was survived by his daughter, Sheryl T. Bowen who followed his death on Dec. 26.