Donald Fredrickson, 77; Headed NIH, Helped Link Fat, Heart Disease

Dr. Donald Fredrickson, 77, former director of the National Institutes of Health who helped connect lipids and fats to heart disease, was found dead Friday, floating in the pool of his home in Bethesda, Md. Authorities said he drowned after suffering a heart attack.

Born in Canon City, Colo., he served in the Army reserves during World War II. He studied engineering at the University of Colorado and earned his medical degree from the University of Michigan.

Fredrickson spent more than two decades at the institutes, working with others in 1965 to classify a group of fatty substances called lipids by studying how they bind to proteins in the blood. That system is now the worldwide standard.

He also discovered two genetic disorders: tangier disease, which results from the absence of high-density lipoprotein; and cholesterol ester storage disease, caused by a deficiency of a lysosomal enzyme.

The doctor served as director of the NIH from 1975 until 1981. In 1984, he became the first full-time president of the Howard Hughes Medical Research Institute in Bethesda. He was forced to resign three years later in a squabble over financial irregularities.