Mahlon Hoagland; biologist codiscovered transfer RNA

In the 1950s, Dr. Mahlon Hoagland helped decode the inner workings of life alongside James Watson and Francis Crick, the men who famously modeled DNA. Decades later, he revisited their discoveries, carving large-scale double helixes out of wood.

“He was an unusual scientist in that he had an artistic outlook to biochemistry,’’ said his longtime colleague, Thoru Pederson.

Dr. Hoagland conducted research at Massachusetts General Hospital laboratories for nearly 20 years and led the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology, a research lab in Shrewsbury, for another 15.

The molecular biologist discovered amino-acid activation, an essential part of how proteins are made, and codiscovered transfer RNA, an important component of human genetics. He also wrote six books.

Dr. Hoagland died in his Vermont home Friday after nine days of fasting under the care of his family, carrying out a final request to die naturally. He was 87.

Born in Boston, Dr. Hoagland grew up in Southborough as the oldest child of a prominent physiologist.

His father, Hudson, helped found the Worcester Foundation; his mother, Anna, translated books into Braille.

After graduating from the Bancroft School in Worcester in 1939, he attended Harvard University. He received a bachelor’s degree in biochemical sciences and enrolled in Harvard Medical School, graduating in 1948.

While at Harvard, he met a fellow Boston-area college student, Elizabeth Loomis of Peabody. The two wed in 1943 and had four children during their 17-year marriage.

As the military often did during World War II, the United States Navy recruited Dr. Hoagland before his graduation, putting him on the fast track for a medical degree.

He finished medical school in 1948 with a focus on pediatric surgery. A bout of tuberculosis, which he caught while caring for a sick baby, kept him out of the war.

When his illness barred him from completing a medical residency to become a surgeon, he tuned to research. In 1948, Dr. Hoagland joined the Harvard-affiliated labs at Mass General Hospital.

In his years at the Huntington Laboratories, he and his colleagues became well known for their work in protein synthesis. In 1953, he began teaching microbiology at Harvard Medical School.

In 1956, Dr. Hoagland and his colleague, Paul Zamecnik, discovered tRNA, one of the three types of ribonucleic acid, or RNA, a building block of life.

A year later, Dr. Hoagland began a year at the renowned Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University in England to work with Crick, a codiscoverer of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), because he had also discovered a type of RNA.

Dr. Hoagland also worked with Watson, the other discoverer of DNA, while at Cambridge and kept in contact with the scientist throughout his life, family said.

In the late 1950s, he married Olley Hoagland, who died earlier this year.

In 1967, he left Harvard and its labs to chair the Microbiology Department at Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, N.H.

“He was a tremendous teacher,’’ said Pederson, who succeeded Dr. Hoagland at the Worcester Foundation.

“He could take things as complicated as DNA replication and explain them in delightfully animating and engaging terms.’’

After three years at Dartmouth, he moved back to Massachusetts to head the Worcester Foundation.

In his next 15 years, Dr. Hoagland was twice nominated for the Nobel Prize and received the Franklin Medal for life sciences in 1976. He also won the 1982 and 1996 Book Awards from the American Medical Writers Association.

During that time, Dr. Hoagland was influential in the national scientific movement. He led a congressional delegation of distinguished scientists for the support of unfettered biomedical research, leading to more grants from Washington, Pederson said.

“It was a really breakthrough group . . . one of the best things he did in his career,’’ said Pederson, who is now a professor at University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Dr. Hoagland retired in 1985 and moved to Thetford, Vt. In his later years, he wrote two popular books: “The Way Life Works,’’ an introduction to cell biology, and “Exploring the Way Life Works,’’ a biology textbook.

He also used the other side of his brain, writing poetry and creating more than 40 wood sculptures.

“He was an artist,’’ said his daughter Robin Hoy of Brunswick, Ga.

“His sculptures were very whimsical, mostly of children or women reading or climbing things,’’ said his daughter Judy Hauck of Wilmot, N.H.

“And he made a beautiful DNA sculpture, a four-foot high double helix made of cherry, with children climbing up the turns of the helix.’’

A “Socratic teacher,’’ according to his children, he encouraged a love of science and art.

“He was always pointing things out to you, encouraging questions,’’ said his son, Mahlon “Jay’’ Hoagland Jr. of Rockport, Maine.

“Being a scientist is all about being able to ask the right questions.’’

“He was a wonderful teacher, so enthusiastic and curious,’’ Hoy said. “He really infected his children with enthusiasm and curiosity. He would never answer our questions with anything but another question.’’

A daughter, Susan, died in 1973.

In his final days, Dr. Hoagland’s three children cared for him at his home, poring over his accomplishments and their memories in a nine-day goodbye.

In addition to his former wife and three children, Dr. Hoagland leaves five stepchildren, four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held Nov. 8 at 2:30 p.m. in Thetford Congregational Church in Vermont.