Elizabeth W. Jones had high standards for herself, her colleagues and her students when it came to logical, clear and creative thinking and ethical practices.

So committed was she to those touchstones that the internationally renowned geneticist and Carnegie Mellon University professor stopped attending her once-beloved Major League Baseball games because of the sport's steroid scandal.

Carnegie Mellon professor John Woolford, who attended many Pittsburgh Pirates games with Dr. Jones, said her unwavering dedication to excellence and ethics, whether in the laboratory, classroom or on the baseball diamond, made her a "teacher of teachers."

"A lot of us were inspired by her," said Dr. Woolford, a colleague for 29 years. "We learned from her how to be teachers."

Dr. Jones, 69, of Squirrel Hill, died Wednesday in West Penn Hospital of complications following abdominal surgery.

"Beth Jones was truly among the best, setting the standard for what a professor should strive to become," said Carnegie Mellon President Jared Cohon. "To say she will be missed is a great understatement."

Dr. Woolford said that despite Dr. Jones' intellect and her deserved standing in the scientific and academic communities, she was nevertheless a warm person with a great sense of humor who wasn't beyond telling a risque joke now and then.

"She was highly respected, one of the nation's most important scientists, but she was very down-to-earth, a Pittsburgher at heart who loved Pittsburgh's teams, Pittsburgh's people and their style," he said. "She had a lot of respect for the city."

Dr. Jones received her bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1960 and four years later was awarded the first genetics doctorate ever granted by the University of Washington. She completed her post-doctoral training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

After teaching at Case Western Reserve University for five years, she joined the Carnegie Mellon faculty in 1974. In 2000, she was named head of the department of biological sciences and the Dr. Frederick A. Schwertz Distinguished Professor of Life Sciences.

Until her death, Dr. Jones continued the research she began more than 40 years ago, using genetic approaches to understand how proteins in yeast cells reach their proper destinations.

Mary Anne L. Jarvik of Squirrel Hill, a close friend for 30 years, said Dr. Jones "was just an extraordinarily interesting person."

"I enjoyed discussing politics and sports and just everything with her," said Mrs. Jarvik, whose husband, Jonathan Jarvik, was a faculty colleague of Dr. Jones. "She wanted to grab young minds and turn them into scientists. She was a mentor to many, many people who have gone on to distinguished careers."

Among them is Aaron P. Mitchell, the Harold S. Ginsberg Professor of Molecular Pathogenesis at Columbia University who was recently recruited by Carnegie Mellon.

"Beth was my single most influential mentor," he said. "She took real pleasure in seeing young people develop in every way -- intellect, knowledge, confidence and especially curiosity."

She received the university's Robert Doherty Prize for Excellence in Education and the Julius Ashkin Teaching Award from its Mellon College of Science. Last year, she received the inaugural Excellence in Education Award from the Genetics Society of America, and this year, its 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award for her pioneering work in yeast genetics.

Dr. Jones co-authored two textbooks about genetics that are widely used in high schools, colleges and universities, and wrote more than 70 papers in scientific publications. For nearly 12 years, she served as editor in chief of Genetics, the leading journal in the field, and since 1990, she was co-associate editor of the Annual Review of Genetics.

Survivors include her mother, Dorothea D. Jones of Oak Harbor, Wash.; a sister, Patricia C. Rencken of Irrigon, Ore.; and a brother, David M. Jones of Condon, Ore.

A memorial service will be held at a date and time to be announced. Interment is private.

Contributions may be made in Dr. Jones' memory to Carnegie Mellon University, Elizabeth W. Jones Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research in Experimental or Computational Biology, P.O. Box 371525, Pittsburgh 15251-7525.

Arrangements are by the Burton L. Hirsch Funeral Home, Squirrel Hill.