A memorial service for Verne M. Chapman, chairman of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute molecular and cellular biology department, will be held Sept. 19 at 6 p.m. in Unitarian Universalist Church, 695 Elmwood Avenue. Chapman, one of the nation's leading mammalian geneticists and a research professor in the Roswell Park Graduate Division of UB, died suddenly Aug. 30 while attending a scientific meeting in Tsukuba Science City, Japan. He was 56.

Chapman's research over the past 25 years has led to the development of genetic and physical maps of the chromosomes of the laboratory mouse. These tools are critical to identifying and analyzing molecular defects often associated with cancer.

A graduate of California State Polytechnic College, he received a doctorate in genetics in 1965 from Oregon State University, joining the Roswell Park staff in 1972 as senior cancer research scientist in the molecular and cellular biology department, becoming department chair in 1982. From 1985-1989, he served as associate institute director of scientific affairs. He served on several federal public advisory committees and published more than 200 papers.

In 1994 he received the Thomas B. Tomasi Hope Award honoring a Roswell Park cancer researcher whose work has made a significant contribution to advances in cancer care. Recently he was designated an eminent scientist of the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research in Tsukuba Science City.

Contributions may be made to the Verne M. Chapman Memorial Fund, c/o Health Research Inc., P.O. Box 1216, Buffalo N.Y., 14240.