At precisely 6 p.m. most Saturdays, his Honda left the driveway with his wife and three children packed into it for the weekly family outing. Diane Ford, his widow, is said to be pleasant and competent. The kids, all college students now, are smart and conscientious. As for Ford, a lot of people thought he was a genius. He had degrees in biochemistry and medicine, and a knack for discovery.
Colleagues speak of an antibiotic derived from tears and a natural cure for baldness.
In 1997 at Biofem, which had been founded two years earlier, he patented a microbicide called Inner Confidence. Ford was also extremely nice, an affable, moon-faced fellow with brown eyes and hair and an easy smile. He gave physicals to the church Boy Scout troop before they went camping. He was an attentive guy who once heard a neighbor crash off a ladder and rushed over to give first aid. He was an intelligent man with many opinions.