MEMORIAL EDGAR STILLWELL GORDON BY GEORGE F. CAHILL
Edgar Stillwell Gordon, a member of the Clinical and Climatological since 1963 died, age 68, April 4, 1975, while skiing in Yosemite National Park in California with his son. Born in Chicago in 1906, he and his family moved to Madison in 1916 and except for a few brief interruptions, he spent his entire life in Wisconsin. From his father, a beloved Professor of Music, he inherited a life-long love and appreciation of music which he shared with his friends throughout this life. He graduated from the University in Madison in 1927 and spent a subsequent 2 years receiving his Master's degree in biochemistry and then the following 4 years at Harvard Medical School, graduating in 1932. After an internship at the Billings Hospital in Chicago and a year of residency in pathology at the Massachusetts General Hospital, he returned to Madison for two years of residency in internal medicine and then another year in the Department of Biochemistry. In 1936 he married Lola Gray and together they started their life-long interest in the outdoors with camping and backpacking in the Rockies, Sierras and Tetons. A number of studies were performed and reported by Dr. Gordon in collaboration with Marc Musser and Frederick Stare on muscle metabolism and with Elmer Sevringhaus and Conrad Elvehjem on vitamin action and therapy. In 1939 he was made Assistant Professor of Medicine and in 1942 Associate Professor. He then departed for four years in the military, mainly in the South Pacific with the 44th General Hospital, being discharged in 1945 as a Lieutenent Colonel. After the war he started his interest in isotopes and their use in medicine, especially in endocrinology and metabolism. With Edwin C. Albright a series of classic papers were published relative to the use of radioiodine in the diagnosis and treatment of thyroid disease. Other papers included the use of steroids in rheumatoid arthritis, electrolyte balance in toxemia of pregnancy and in liver disease, and a series on the diagnosis and treatment of adrenal disease and vitamin abnormalities. Thus he bridged the rapidly expanding areas of nutrition, metabolism and endocrinology, and at the bedside was at ease in all areas. In fact, one could rank him as one of the few remaining "compleat" endocrinologists who could handle disorders of all of the glands in both a clinically effective manner and yet discuss the physiology and biochemistry of the problem to the medical students and house staff. xxxv
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MEMORIAL
His versatility and interest brought him memberships in the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and the American Association of Physicians, and Consultancies to the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases. He was also a member of the American Institute of Nutrition and the American Diabetes Association. He played a very active role in his home state and at the University of Wisconsin where he was a Professor of Medicine, Senior Physician and Chief of Staff at the University Hospitals. He was also an accomplished pianist and photographer as well as a prominent and active member of various civic groups. His most recent research efforts were directed to the studies of the intermediary metabolism of diabetes, especially relating to lipid metabolism. At a time when most physiologists considered that markedly overweight people were simply gluttons, Dr. Gordon persisted that there might be a component of hypometabolism, and, in spite of much criticism by his colleagues, he stuck by his guns, his position being partly scientific but also partly thanks to his being a very good and sympathetic observer of his patients. The data on the production of inactive "reverse" T3 from T4 published by Ingbar and his colleagues since Ed Gordon's death, now support his hypothesis strongly and on the basis of hard scientific data for which the technology did not exist at the time of his studies. Ed Gordon was a quiet, soft-spoken, wann and enthusiastic individual, always active, both physically and mentally, and his death, although premature and tragic, was in keeping with his philosophy. He is survived by his wife Lola, two sons, Robert and Stuart and a daughter Mrs. Joan Owens. The late Dr. William S. Middleton, former Dean of the University of Wisconsin Medical School, and former Medical Director of the Veterans Administration, stated "Ed has left us in person, but his spirit will abide to sustain and stimulate us through the trials and tribulations ahead".
Edgar Stillwell Gordon, a member of the Clinical and Climatological since 1963 died, age 68, April 4, 1975, while skiing in Yosemite National Park in California with his son. Born in Chicago in 1906, he and his family moved to Madison in 1916 and except for a few brief interruptions, he spent his entire life in Wisconsin. From his father, a beloved Professor of Music, he inherited a life-long love and appreciation of music which he shared with his friends throughout this life. He graduated from the University in Madison in 1927 and spent a subsequent 2 years receiving his Master's degree in biochemistry and then the following 4 years at Harvard Medical School, graduating in 1932. After an internship at the Billings Hospital in Chicago and a year of residency in pathology at the Massachusetts General Hospital, he returned to Madison for two years of residency in internal medicine and then another year in the Department of Biochemistry. In 1936 he married Lola Gray and together they started their life-long interest in the outdoors with camping and backpacking in the Rockies, Sierras and Tetons. A number of studies were performed and reported by Dr. Gordon in collaboration with Marc Musser and Frederick Stare on muscle metabolism and with Elmer Sevringhaus and Conrad Elvehjem on vitamin action and therapy. In 1939 he was made Assistant Professor of Medicine and in 1942 Associate Professor. He then departed for four years in the military, mainly in the South Pacific with the 44th General Hospital, being discharged in 1945 as a Lieutenent Colonel. After the war he started his interest in isotopes and their use in medicine, especially in endocrinology and metabolism. With Edwin C. Albright a series of classic papers were published relative to the use of radioiodine in the diagnosis and treatment of thyroid disease. Other papers included the use of steroids in rheumatoid arthritis, electrolyte balance in toxemia of pregnancy and in liver disease, and a series on the diagnosis and treatment of adrenal disease and vitamin abnormalities. Thus he bridged the rapidly expanding areas of nutrition, metabolism and endocrinology, and at the bedside was at ease in all areas. In fact, one could rank him as one of the few remaining "compleat" endocrinologists who could handle disorders of all of the glands in both a clinically effective manner and yet discuss the physiology and biochemistry of the problem to the medical students and house staff. xxxv
XXXVi
MEMORIAL
His versatility and interest brought him memberships in the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and the American Association of Physicians, and Consultancies to the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases. He was also a member of the American Institute of Nutrition and the American Diabetes Association. He played a very active role in his home state and at the University of Wisconsin where he was a Professor of Medicine, Senior Physician and Chief of Staff at the University Hospitals. He was also an accomplished pianist and photographer as well as a prominent and active member of various civic groups. His most recent research efforts were directed to the studies of the intermediary metabolism of diabetes, especially relating to lipid metabolism. At a time when most physiologists considered that markedly overweight people were simply gluttons, Dr. Gordon persisted that there might be a component of hypometabolism, and, in spite of much criticism by his colleagues, he stuck by his guns, his position being partly scientific but also partly thanks to his being a very good and sympathetic observer of his patients. The data on the production of inactive "reverse" T3 from T4 published by Ingbar and his colleagues since Ed Gordon's death, now support his hypothesis strongly and on the basis of hard scientific data for which the technology did not exist at the time of his studies. Ed Gordon was a quiet, soft-spoken, wann and enthusiastic individual, always active, both physically and mentally, and his death, although premature and tragic, was in keeping with his philosophy. He is survived by his wife Lola, two sons, Robert and Stuart and a daughter Mrs. Joan Owens. The late Dr. William S. Middleton, former Dean of the University of Wisconsin Medical School, and former Medical Director of the Veterans Administration, stated "Ed has left us in person, but his spirit will abide to sustain and stimulate us through the trials and tribulations ahead".
