The members of the LDV DNA Project mourn the passing of J. Craig Venter 29 April 2026. Craig was a great supporter of the Project from its outset in the autumn of 2014. Above all, Craig recruited crucial, wonderful people to the Project, including José Lorente and Rhonda Roby (who was then working at JCVI), Karen Nelson, Manolito Toralba, Amalio Telenti, and Norberto Gonzalez-Juarbe. See the excerpt below from an early email by Bob Friedman, who helped coordinate the JCVI participation. Much of the most important laboratory work of the Project has occurred in JCVI laboratories. Jesse Ausubel’s last in-person meeting with Craig about Leonardo took place in March of 2024 in La Jolla. We are grateful that Craig enjoyed the widespread coverage of the Project’s progress, including the key contributions of JCVI, that occurred in January 2026. Craig helped imbue the Project with optimism, problem-solving capacity, and talent.
From: Friedman, Robert [rfriedman@jcvi.org]
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2014 7:41 PM
To: Jesse H. Ausubel
Subject: RE: revised draft project description including Dr. Lorente
Thanks Jesse… I will add Rhonda Roby as the forensic DNA expert. I am most certainly not!
Had a call with Craig, Heather, Mark, and Rhonda earlier this afternoon. Craig is very excited about the project, however, he will not be able to make the Tuesday morning call. Lots of discussion about how to avoid contamination. Also (and I can explain this further), we need to make sure that we have all the necessary permissions from France to allow us to send the DNA to the United States….
Bob
Robert M. Friedman
Vice President for Policy and University Relations
J. Craig Venter Institute