George Holzwarth joined the Wake Forest physics faculty in 1983 and made biophysics the center of a career that continued well beyond his formal retirement in 2004. He earned a B.S. in physics from Wesleyan University in 1959 and a Ph.D. in biophysics from Harvard University in 1964. Before coming to Wake Forest, he taught at the University of Chicago and worked at Exxon Corporate Research.

George used the tools of physics to study biological materials, and he took particular pleasure in helping students publish their first papers and present their first posters. He continued collaborating with colleagues and students until his death. His final paper, “Directional change during active diffusion of viral ribonucleoprotein particles through cytoplasm,” was published posthumously in Biophysical Journal in 2024 with Wake Forest collaborators.

The George Holzwarth Memorial Biophysics Lecture now honors his contributions to research, teaching, and the department. He was also an accomplished woodworker and baker, and friends remembered the same patience and precision in his work outside the laboratory.