Dietz, Dennis Donnelly, Ph.D.
(LM Manager of Scientific Issues)Biographical Information:
Dennis Donnelly Dietz was born in Cincinnati in 1941. He began his post-secondary studies at the University of Cincinnati, earning a bachelor's degree in Chemistry in 1964. He then pursued a Master of Arts degree in Education and Zoology at Michigan State University, which he received in 1969. Dietz next earned a Ph.D. in Toxicology in 1976 from the University of Michigan.
After completing his doctorate, Dietz spent three years at the University of North Carolina, conducting post-doctoral research in behavioral pharmacology and behavioral toxicology. He next moved to Madison, Wisconsin, to accept a position at a firm known as Raltech. At Raltech, he served as study director at a laboratory that investigated cancer bioassays and other short-term toxicological projects. Dietz returned to North Carolina in 1981, spending a year and a half with a company called Tracor Jitco, Inc., and then three years working for the Research Triangle Institute. In 1986 he was offered a position with the National Toxicology Program, an inter-agency program administered by the federal government. Dietz's job involved overseeing cancer bioassays and his department was under the auspices of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
Four years later, in August of 1990, he became Manager of Scientific Issues for the Liggett Group. According to Dietz, he had "three core responsibilities: product integrity; product development; and to represent the company on toxicology issues at certain industry-wide conferences and meetings." He was also part of a Cigarette Industry Ingredients Committee that was charged with compiling a list of cigarette ingredients and submitting it to the Office of Smoking and Health. Additional job duties included quality control, product oversight and stewardship, oversight of chemical testing for tar, nicotine and nitrosamines.
In October of 1999, Dietz left Liggett and moved to the state of Washington to accept a position with Battelle. According to Dietz, "I left Liggett because at the time, it was rather uncertain at the company from a financial point of view. And my training was as a toxicologist, and quite honestly, you know, I wasn't practicing that in the true sense of the word in that I wasn't conducting toxicology studies. And Battelle offered me a chance to develop my career a little bit better along that line." Dietz's initial title at Battelle was Technical Manager of the Toxicology Technical Unit, but he was soon promoted to Study Director and Senior Toxicologist. In that position, he was responsible for overseeing and analyzing studies in which rodents were exposed to a variety of chemicals. Cigarette smoke inhalation tests were among the studies that he supervised.
Dennis Dietz continued to testify about his time at Liggett, giving his final testimony in March of 2005 in the Department of Justice case. Eighteen months later, on September 18, 2006, he died suddenly in Kennewick, Washington. While Dietz had been affiliated with four different universities, he remained to the end of his life "an avid fan of Michigan State University." In his obituary, those wishing to make a donation in his memory were asked to send it to the Michigan State University Alumni Association.
Sources:
Allan M. Brandt, The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall and Deadly Persistence of the Product that Defined America (New York: Basic Books, 2007).
"Dennis Dietz" (obituary), Tri-City Herald (Kennewick, WA), September 24, 2006.
"Deposition of DENNIS DONNELLY DIETZ, Ph.D., July 1, 2002, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. PHILIP MORRIS USA INC."
http://tobaccodocuments.org/datta/DIETZD070102.html.
Richard Kluger, Ashes to Ashes: America's Hundred-Year Cigarette War and the Unabashed Triumph of Philip Morris (New York: Vintage Books, 1996).
"Written trial testimony of DENNIS DIETZ, Ph.D., accepted March 29, 2005, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. PHILIP MORRIS USA INC."
http://tobaccodocuments.org/datta/DIETZD031405ER.html.