Stillwater, OK - Ulrich Karl Melcher, 80, of Stillwater, Oklahoma passed away on July 13, 2025. A service to celebrate his life will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, July 28, at Strode Funeral Home Chapel, Stillwater, Oklahoma with Reverend Susan Ross officiating. Strode Funeral Home and Cremation is in charge of arrangements.

Ulrich was born in London, UK, to Ernest and Lotte Melcher, who had left Germany for England at the beginning of WWII. They immigrated to the United States when Ulrich was six years old. He grew up in Queens, NY, and graduated from Staples High School, Westport, CT.

He then earned a B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry at Michigan State University. At Michigan State, he met Karen Sandstedt, and they were married in 1968. After earning his Ph.D., Dr. Melcher served as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Aarhus in Denmark, at New York University Medical School, and at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School.

Dr. Melcher began his faculty career as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology at UT Southwestern Medical School. After a year, he joined the Department of Biochemistry at Oklahoma State University (OSU), where he would spend the remainder of his career. As Director of OSU's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology's Recombinant DNA/Protein Resource Facility and a member of the OSU Institute for Biosecurity and Microbial Forensics, he made significant contributions to viral evolution, biodiversity, microbial forensics, and plant-pathogen interactions.

Dr. Melcher earned numerous accolades, including being named the inaugural Robert J. Sirny Professor of Agricultural Biochemistry. He also received the OSU Regents Distinguished Research Award, the Phoenix Award for Graduate Faculty, and the James A. Whatley Award of Merit for excellence in agricultural research.

He will be remembered not only for his scientific research but also for his generosity, mentorship, and the lasting impact he made on his students, colleagues, and the broader scientific community.

He loved traveling with his family; learning new languages; cycling; playing music on the piano, clarinet, and recorder; and working on the Sunday New York Times crossword. In his later years, he and his wife Karen became members of the Oakcreek Community in Stillwater.

Ulrich is survived by his loving wife Karen Melcher; daughters Sonya and husband Jonathan Fogg, Katherine Melcher and her husband Mark Johnson; step-grandchild Alex Johnson

Ulrich is preceded in death by his parents, Ernest and Lotte Melcher

The family would like to thank the staff at Legacy Village of Stillwater Memory Care for taking such good care of him during his final year.

Donations can be made out to Ulrich & Karen Melcher Endowed Graduate Research Fund (#21-47600), Oklahoma State University Foundation, and Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, The Nature Conservancy.