Charles Fumito Taketa was born March 10, 1926, at Waimea on the island of Kawai, Hawaii. He received his A.B. at Washington University in 1950, and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1957. In 1958, he was appointed to the faculty of Marquette University School of Medicine as instructor in Biochemistry and later promoted to Assistant Professor. As the school became the Medical College of Wisconsin in 1967, he continued his ascent to Associate Professor, then to Professor in 1973. In 1980-1982, he was acting Chairman, and from 1982 he was Vice Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry. His research career, which was devoted to understanding the chemical basis hemoglobin function and later the toxicity of organotin compounds, was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Wisconsin Heart Foundation, the American Cancer Society, and the Midwest Children's Cancer Center. In 1975-1976, he was a Fogarty Scholar at Kings College, London, and in 1987 he received the Medical College's Distinguished Service Award. He died on June 1, 1990.