| Bruce Ivins AKA Bruce Edwards Ivins Born: 22-Apr-1946
Birthplace: Lebanon, OH
Died: 29-Jul-2008
Location of death: Frederick, MD
Cause of death: Suicide
Gender: Male
Religion: Roman Catholic
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Biologist, Scientist
Party Affiliation: Democratic Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Anthrax researcher and suspect Microbiologist Bruce Ivins was the primary researcher on anthrax in the Bacteriology Division at Fort Detrick's United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID). He is believed to have committed suicide, overdosing on Tylenol with codeine on 29 July 2008.
Beginning on 18 September 2001, several letters contaminated with the bacterium Bacillus anthracis (anthrax) were mailed; among their recipients were Senators Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy. The anthrax mailings are known to have killed at least five people. Like most of the workers in his section at USAMRIID, Ivins himself had been vaccinated against anthrax. In 2003 Ivins was awarded the Defense Department's Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service, described as the Defense Department's highest civilian honor, for his anthrax-related work.
In December 2001, a technician at USAMRIID told Dr Ivins that she suspected her work area had been contaminated. Ivins tested the area, confirmed her suspicions, and decontaminated her workspace, but did not notify his own superiors -- he later said he "had no desire to cry wolf". Ivins became suspicious of another contamination incident in April 2002, and on 16 April 2002 he reported finding the deadly Ames-strain anthrax, generally described as "the preferred strain for biodefense research", in the men's changing room and around his own office.
Ivins cooperated with the FBI's investigations over the six years following the anthrax mailings, but in the last months of his life federal agents made it clear that he was the prime suspect. Feds tailed him everywhere, around the clock. Ivins complained that FBI agents had offered to pay $2.5M to his son, Andy, if he would provide evidence incriminating his father, and the FBI confronted his daughter, Amanda, with photographs of the anthrax victims, telling her, "This is what your father did". For several days after his death, FBI sources leaked incriminating tidbits about Ivins -- he was reportedly being treated for depression, and was described by his long-estranged brother, Thomas Ivins, as having "had in his mind that he was omnipotent".
Curiously, Ivins' area of expertise was immunization against anthrax -- building better vaccines. Insiders have expressed doubt that he had the knowledge or access to equipment necessary to turn the spores into weaponized anthrax. After his death the family's lawyer said in a press release, "We assert his innocence in these killings, and would have established that at trial." Father: Thomas Randall Ivins (pharmacist)
Mother: Mary Johnson Knight Ivins
Brother: Thomas R. Ivins, Jr.
Brother: Charles W. Ivins
Wife: Diane Ivins (b. circa 1955, m. circa 1975, until his death)
Son: Andrew Ivins ("Andy")
Daughter: Amanda Ivins (b. circa 1984)
High School: Lebanon High School, Lebanon, OH
University: BS Biology, University of Cincinnati (1969)
University: MS Microbiology, University of Cincinnati (1971)
University: PhD Microbiology, University of Cincinnati (1976)
American Red Cross
Risk Factors: Depression
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