Dr. Melvin S. Center, 80, of Manhattan, passed away peacefully on Sunday January 3rd, 2021. Melvin was born in Savannah, Georgia to Dr. Abraham and Bess Center on May 10, 1940. He graduated from Savannah High and the University of Georgia before receiving his Ph.D. from the Medical College of Georgia. He then continued his postdoctoral training as a researcher at Harvard Medical School for three years. Melvin began his career at Kansas State University in 1970 in the Division of Biology where he served for 29 years teaching and researching in virology and cancer cell biology. Over the years as a professor, he became an international authority on multi-drug resistance, an area of research that is crucial to successful chemotherapy. He would go on to train 17 graduate and postdoctoral students, publish more than 60 peer-reviewed papers in scientific literature and was selected a Mid-American States University honor lecturer. To provide a sense of his work, one of his published papers was entitled “Evidence that SP1 Modulates Transcriptional Activity of the Multidrug Resistance-Associated Protein Gene.” On September 2, 1962 he would marry Rosalind Siegel of Anderson, South Carolina whom he remained married to for 58 years. Melvin was a member of the Jewish community and spent his spare time serving meals to the needy through Meals on Wheels. He was an avid reader, loved to travel and discover local or gourmet food, and possessed a dry sense of humor that brought smiles to everyone who knew him. He also was exceedingly and zealously kind, and made the world around him a more thoughtful and gracious place to be. He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother Gary. He is survived by his wife Rosalind, brother Larry (Raline), his nephews and a niece and his children Michael (Allison) and Brian (Vivian). He also is survived by his four beloved grandchildren, David, Benjamin, Sophia and Olivia Center. Memorial donations in his name may be made to Good Shepherd Homecare Hospice, 3801 Vanesta Drive, Manhattan, KS 66503 or to the Manhattan Jewish Congregation, 1509 Wreath Avenue, Manhattan, KS 66503. Donations may be sent in care of Yorgensen-Meloan-Londeen Funeral Home, 1616 Poyntz Avenue, Manhattan, KS 66502. A memorial service will be scheduled at a later date once it is safe to do so.