Dennis Frate works with children at a puppet show at the Tutwiler Community Education Center to educate them about the dangers of pesticides in a 2000 Earthwatch Institute project. UM photo by Robert Jordan

Frate, a medical anthropologist widely known for his studies of rural health in the Mississippi Delta, joined the School of Pharmacy faculty in 1980 as an assistant professor in the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences. He left in 2000 to become a professor of preventive medicine at the UM Medical Center, where he served until retiring June 30.

During his time in the pharmacy school, Frate served as coordinator of the Rural Health Research Program and principal investigator of a National Institutes of Health-funded study to develop community-based programs to control high blood pressure in rural populations. He also conducted studies of prolonged pesticide exposure and its impact on health.

"Dennis took a lot of pride in being a grass-roots researcher who actually got out into the field and really worked with the people he was studying, rather than just sitting in a lab somewhere and collecting data," said Ben Banahan, UM professor of pharmacy administration who worked closely with Frate. "He didn't want to be in some ivory tower. He was very much into studying the medical anthropology issues of poor people."

Frate's work often was characterized by "out of the box" thinking, said E.M. "Mick" Kolassa, adjunct professor of pharmacy administration and president of Medical Marketing Economics in Oxford.

"Working in a number of diverse and complex projects, Dennis was able to adapt his knowledge base to just about any situation," Kolassa said. "Whether we were trying to understand how a physician reached a decision or how often residents of the Delta ate fish, Dennis had insights that were always amazing."

Former students remember Frate as a caring professor who made an impact on their lives far beyond the classroom.

"Without any sense of exaggeration, he was the best instructor I had throughout my graduate education," said John Juergens, the pharmacy school's coordinator of student professional development and associate professor of pharmacy administration. "He was so effective in his teaching that not a day goes by more than 20 years later that I do not apply some of the ideas and principles he taught me.

"As a research colleague, I was continually amazed at his piercing insights into the social, behavioral and cultural aspects of human health. He taught me what it really means to be a humanist, and I try to pass that legacy on to those around me."

Frate was also a talented musician who once sang in a do-wop group, Kolassa said. "He was also an accomplished fisherman and the luckiest poker player I ever met, although his inherent sincerity prevented him from being a good bluffer."

After earning a bachelor's degree in anthropology from Miami University, Frate completed master's and doctoral degrees in medical anthropology at the University of Illinois. During his graduate studies, he spent time in the Delta studying geophagy, the practice of eating dirt.

"It was kind of a running joke we had," Banahan said. "Every three or four years, somebody would rediscover the geophagy article, and Dennis would get a whole new round of calls from people doing stories on dirt-eating."

The researcher was even invited to be a guest on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" to discuss the practice, but he declined because he did not want the work taken lightly, Banahan said.

Frate is survived by his wife, Juliet B. Frate, and daughter Elizabeth. The family requests that memorials be sent to Tutwiler Clinic Inc., P.O. Box 462, Tutwiler, MS 38963.