Peter Shapras

6/30/14, Peter Shapras was called to be with the Lord, leaving his loving wife of 51 years Jadvyga, Children: Peter K. Shapras, Regina S. Fortune and husband John, grandson Andrew K. and his wife Lauren, great grandson Bennett Edward and Linda P. Shapras and many relatives in Lithuania. Peter was born on Feb. 23, 1925 in Lithuania. In 1944 he escaped Communism to Germany and worked in a factory. After the war, he graduated from Lithuanian High School in Eichstatt, Germany and studied medicine in Erlangen. In 1949 he immigrated to America where he worked various odd jobs until he began working as a technician for cancer research at Johns Hopkins Hospital. There he was fortunate to work full time with Professor Dr. George O. Gey and to continue studies at Johns Hopkins University, majoring in chemistry. Peter was one of the first researchers to work with HeLa cells, now being used throughout the world in research and as a biomanufacturing tool. Peter studied differences between normal and malignant cells using phase and electron microscopy and interaction of viruses with living cells. Peter�s work resulted in five publications, as coauthor, that were published in several scientific journals and Proceedings of the 8th Congress on Cell Biology, Leiden, The Netherlands. After earning his degree in chemistry from John Hopkins University, Peter joined Monsanto Co., as a research chemist. While at Monsanto, he published two papers on Analytical Chemistry and obtained several patents on plastics composition. In 1985, Peter retired as Senior Technical Leader from Solutia Co. A longtime Wilbraham resident, Peter was a communicant of St. Cecilia�s Church. Visitation will be held on Friday, July 4th from 4:00 � 7:00 pm at Wilbraham Funeral Home, 2551 Boston Rd., Wilbraham. Peter�s Funeral will be Saturday at 10:00 am from Wilbraham Funeral Home to a Mass at 11:00 am at St. Cecilia�s Church, 42 Main St., Wilbraham. Burial will follow in St. Aloysius Cemetery, Indian Orchar