Hematologist developed a process to cleanse blood plasma of viruses
the blood-purification process that uses mild detergents to sweep viruses from blood plasma. Shanbrom eventually became a leader in the use of detergents and other natural products to destroy viruses — including HIV — and other contaminants in blood.
When the New York Blood Center, a large nonprofit blood bank and research organization, bought rights to his patented blood-cleaning processes in 1988, he arranged for his royalties to fund a deeply personal cause: trafficaccident prevention.
Two years earlier, his youngest son, David, 27, was killed when a speeding tractor-trailer went out of control on the 210 Freeway in San Dimas and struck his car.
The death of his son plunged him into a deep depression that partly lifted when Shanbrom diverted most of his royalties to fund fellowships in traffic safety research at the UC Irvine Institute of Transportation Studies, he told The Times in 1988.
With his wife, Helen, Shanbrom researched the issue of hand brakes in trucks after learning that the driver of the speeding truck that killed their son had used his trailer hand brake to try to slow down.
At the urging of the Shanbroms, state Sen. John Seymour (R-anaheim) introduced a measure in the Legislature to bar commercial truck drivers from slowing tractor-trailer rigs by using only trailer brakes. It became law in 1989.
Born in 1924 in West Haven, Conn., Shanbrom was the youngest of four sons of a lumberyard owner and his homemaker wife. He served in the Navy from 1943 to 1946 as a medic stationed mainly at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
In 1947, Shanbrom received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Allegheny College in Pennsylvania. Four years later, he earned a medical degree from the University of Buffalo.
After interning at University Hospital in Buffalo, Shanbrom studied hematology at Yale University. Before turning to research, he specialized in hematology at hospitals including the City of Hope and what is now UC Irvine Medical Center.
In recognition of his research and philanthropy, UC Irvine named a medical school building after him in 2007. Shanbrom also was a major supporter of the arts in Orange County.
At home, Shanbrom routinely tested scientific ideas on his family and himself. Wanting to see if a new cranberry extract would protect against sunburn, he smeared it on his forehead and sat in the sun. It failed but proved effective as a temporary hair dye, turning his hair pink for a week.
In addition to Helen, his wife of 65 years, Shanbrom is survived by a daughter, Susan Krabbe, of Kirkland, Wash.; two sons, Bob of Los Osos, Calif., and Bill of Ojai; and four grandchildren.
valerie.nelson@latimes.com