Ben K. Seon, PhD, a member of the AACR for 49 years who conducted research on antibody-based immunotherapies at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, died December 17, 2025, at the age of 89.
Born in Japan in 1936, Seon was in high school when his father died of stomach cancer—a loss that compelled him to pursue a career in cancer research. He earned a doctorate in biochemistry at Osaka University in 1966 and joined the faculty at Roswell Park in 1967. Seon rose to professor of oncology before retiring in 2014. He continued his research as a professor emeritus until 2025. He was honored with a lifetime achievement award by Rosell Park’s Department of Immunology in 2023.
Seon was noted for developing a strategy to isolate the genetic protein CD79b, which was key to the later development of the immune-based therapy polatuzumab vedotin (Polivy), approved by the FDA in 2019 to treat B-cell lymphomas.
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