A well-known biophysicist who was one of the leading researchers on DNA
sequencing analysis was found slain in his rural Loudoun County home after
co-workers became concerned that he didn't come to work Monday,
authorities said yesterday.
Robert M. Schwartz, 57, a founding member of the Virginia Biotechnology
Association, was found dead in the secluded fieldstone farmhouse southwest
of Leesburg where he lived alone. Friends said Schwartz's wife died of
cancer several years ago and their three children are away at college.
Loudoun sheriff's officials said an autopsy will be conducted today at
the medical examiner's office in Fairfax County. Sources said it appeared
that Schwartz had been stabbed.
Loudoun Sheriff Stephen O. Simpson said Schwartz was last heard from
Friday. Co-workers at Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology, a
government-funded nonprofit agency in Herndon that was created by the
General Assembly in 1984, asked neighbors to check on Schwartz when he
didn't show up for work Monday and then missed a 1 p.m. meeting.
"We're all stunned," said CIT President Anne Armstrong. "We don't know
anything. What we're assuming is maybe he walked in on something."
Simpson declined to say whether investigators have any suspects but
said officers worked all night Monday gathering evidence and preparing a
search warrant for an undisclosed location. "We have some leads we are
following up on," Simpson said.
Armstrong called Schwartz "one of the smartest people I ever met" and
said Schwartz worked at CIT for almost 15 years. Recently he served as
executive director of research and development and university relations,
helping to administer public grants.
According to CIT's Web site, Schwartz graduated cum laude from
Catholic University and has a doctorate in biophysics from Stanford
University. He worked at both Georgetown University and the University of
Maryland and contributed chapters to the Nucleic Acid Sequence Database.
He also worked on the first national online database of DNA sequence
information.
Robert G. Templin, who worked at CIT for about six years, described
Schwartz as a brilliant scientist who had a gift for explaining complex
scientific subjects in simple language.
"He was the kind of person who could live in the scientific world or
the business world or the everyday world of Virginia citizens and explain
why science is important," Templin said.
Neighbors described Schwartz as a quiet man who always stopped to help
if a car was stuck on the narrow dirt road leading to their homes. They
said he adored his farmhouse and the horse and three goats he kept in a
grassy fence-lined pasture. He also had a dog and a bird.
"He enjoyed rural living," Templin said. "Outside of his professional
work, his children and family were his major focus."
Armstrong said she last spoke with Schwartz on Friday at the CIT office
in Herndon. "He was concerned about getting home because he had to muck
out the horse stall," she said.
Armstrong said Schwartz's assistant came to her Monday when he didn't
come into the office.
"She said, 'Did Bob tell you he was going to be anyplace different
today?' " Armstrong recalled. "She said he never goes anyplace without
calling."
When Schwartz still hadn't arrived for a 1 p.m. meeting, Armstrong
said, they asked a neighbor to check on him.
"We know very little about the circumstances of Bob's death, except
that the Loudoun County authorities have informed us they are treating it
as a crime," Armstrong said. "If that is the case, it is a senseless and
random act of violence against a brilliant man."
Staff researcher Bobbye Pratt contributed to this report.
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