George Rathmann

The genetic engineering industry had only a handful of companies in 1980 when Dr. Rathmann was recruited from Abbott Laboratories to run Amgen. In 1990, after stepping down as chief executive at Amgen, Dr. Rathmann co-founded Icos, which developed the erectile dysfunction drug Cialis. Dr. Rathmann persuaded the Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to invest in Icos, his first investment in biotechnology. Mr. Rathmann spent about 20 years at 3M, working on Scotchgard and other products, before becoming head of research and development for the diagnostics division of Abbott Laboratories in 1975. (He also worked briefly for Litton Medical Systems.) He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Northwestern University and a doctorate in physical chemistry from Princeton. Besides his son James, Dr. Rathmann is survived by his wife of 62 years, Joy; three daughters, Margaret Rathmann, Laura Jean Rathmann and Sally Kadifa; another son, Richard; and 13 grandchildren.