Ferid Murad, an Albanian-American physician and pharmacologist, passed away on September 4 at his home in Menlo Park. 

Murad was born in Whiting, Indiana, in 1936. His parents were Henrietta Josephine Bowman of Alton, Illinois and Xhabir Murad Ejupi, an Albanian immigrant from Gostivar in present-day North Macedonia. 

He studied at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, where he graduated in 1958, and earned his Doctor of Science degree at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. 

He later worked at the University of Virginia until 1981 before moving to Stanford University. 

In the early 1970s, Ferid Murad began his research on the role of nitric oxide in the cardiovascular system and discovered that it plays a crucial role in relaxing blood vessels and improving blood circulation. 

This discovery led to the development of new drugs for the treatment of heart and other cardiovascular diseases, earning him the Nobel Prize in 1998, alongside biochemist Robert F. Furchgott and pharmacologist Louis J. Ignarro.