“I would have been a pianist” —he says. Dr. Gener is sitting down on a corner sofa in the lobby at the Avenida Palace Hotel, place that he chooses for our first meeting. Herald Tribune in his hands, he is waiting for the music to start.
Hadn't it been for science, as this 72 year-old man likes to explain, he would have dedicated his life to music —instead of Clinical Chemistry. In his voice, though, there are no regrets.
When the pianist arrives, we realised we had to record them together.
1963. Two months into his marriage, Dr. Gener and his wife travelled to Cleveland (USA) to start a three year research on Insulin Transport at the Western Reserve University . Leaving Franco's regime behind, they lived through Kennedy's assassination and some of the Vietnam War. “I was fortunate to learn the basics of research there” —he recalls. “It was challenging. Only six people went to the States. We were coming from a country where we had nothing. We couldn't research anything in Spain ”.
After three years, he returns to a different Spain . The country had changed but some things didn't. “Tight budgets, mainly. Also, there were no research groups in Barcelona ” —he complaints. Still, he has good memories. “Things became difficult but most of the times they could be solved with a lot of patience and a lot of common sense”.
Dr. Joan Gener prefers to be called “Jack” in English speaking environments. “I don't want to be mixed up with a woman's name” . Not finding any group that really fit his interests, Dr. “Jack” Gener decides to move to the private industry, where he has been working for more than 45 years. Lately, he is an external consultant for the research and production of Clinical Chemistry reagents and he doesn't think of retiring. ”You don't retire from your thoughts” —he asserts.
Seeing him enjoying the music, one would imagine he is an artist rather than a scientist. His career shows he chose a correct pathway. But looking at his amazing Indian Ink and how cultivated he is in different disciplines, we picture him as a modern man with the Renaissance spirit.
After meeting the person, we decided the title of the video right away, for when we asked why he is still working, his first words were: “Science is my passion”.
It took us two days to record all the material you can see in For the love of the game . A week after giving him a copy on a video tape, he confesses he has not seen it yet. “I don't have time to look at myself now. But I will” —he says.
