Scripps physician, researcher dies

Dr. Ernest Beutler, a Scripps Research Institute physician and researcher who was one of the country’s leading experts on diseases of the blood and iron metabolism, has died of lymphoma. He was 80.

Beutler died Sunday at Scripps Green Hospital in La Jolla, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Beutler was a pioneer in bone marrow transplantation for fighting cancer; made key discoveries about the role of the X-chromosome in women; helped discover G6PD deficiency, the most common clinically significant enzyme deficiency of humans; improved the diagnosis and treatment of Gaucher disease; and developed cladribine, a treatment for both leukemia and multiple sclerosis, according to The Times.

He also wrote the original programming for the widely used software Reference Manager.

“Ernie always had a sparkle in his eye, the energy of a man half his age and a bottomless treasury of new ideas,’’ Dr. Richard A. Lerner, president of Scripps, told The Times. He “was a truly extraordinary man who led an exceptional life, full of kindness, wisdom, strength and knowledge.’’

Beutler was born in Berlin to two physicians and moved to America in 1935.

He is survived by his wife of 58 years, four children and eight grandchildren.