Jan Hamer

Jan Hamer (May 2, 1927 – July 25, 2008) was an organic chemistry professor at Tulane University in New Orleans from 1960 to 1992. A Dutch citizen, Hamer received his Ph.D. from the University of Leiden in The Netherlands. He authored three chemistry books and was listed in Who's Who in the South and Southwest. He was a member of the Round Table Club and the Holland Club, both in New Orleans. He had a deep interest in classical music, history, horticulture, and cooking.

Hamer was born to Gerard Pieter Hamer and Wijke Hamer-de Boer in Gombong, Indonesia. He moved with his family to The Hague in The Netherlands. He returned to Indonesia in 1952 and served for three years as a second lieutenant and commander of a foot battalion for the Royal Netherlands military. On March 20, 1956, Hamer married the former Millicent May (born April 10, 1926) of New Orleans.

Hamer died in a hospice in Baton Rouge. Services were held on July 30 at the Audubon Park Golf Clubhouse in New Orleans. In addition to his wife, Hamer was survived by two daughters, Elizabeth May Hamer Pope and husband, Joseph Keith Pope of Baton Rouge, and Hilary Halsey Hamer Tafran and husband, Mohammad Hassan Musaid Tafran, of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; a grandson, Rayan Mohammad Hassan Tafran, of Jeddah, and a sister, Meinie, of the Netherlands.

Jan and Millicent Hamer's photograph and story of survival during Hurricane Katrina was featured in the 2007 book (University of Missouri Press), Holding Out and Hanging On: Surviving Hurricane Katrina by Thomas Neff, a photographer and a professor of art at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.