WILLIAM HUGH FELDMAN, DVM 1892- 1974
:
f :Fz *{ Z s:: :;e
>'. l.
-t
I. e'
:.
-ev
::
The American Journal of PATHOLOGY JANUARY 1975
*
VOLUME 78, NUMBER 1
William Hugh Feldman, DVM, 1892-1974 THE DEATH ON JANUARY 15, 1974, of William Hugh Feldman at the age of 82 brought to an end a busy life notable for worldrenowned achievement in two distinct fields, veterinary pathology and chemotherapy of experimental tuberculosis. His early work in pathology resulted in many journal papers and two monographs, Neoplasms of Domestic Animals (1932), the first of its kind, and Avian Tuberculois Infections (1938), both still important, widely quoted reference works. His studies on the pathology of tuberculosis in domestic and laboratory animals provided the basis for later work on chemotherapy for which he was recently ranked "with Ehrlich, Domagk, Florey and Fleming, and Waksman" (The Lancet, February 9, 1974, 227). Dr. Feldman, born in Scotland in 1892, grew up in western Colorado. He received the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 1917 from Colorado State University, where he remained for 10 years teaching bacteriology and pathology. In 1927 he was appointed to the staff of the Institute of Experimental Medicine, Mayo Foundation, and in 1944 was advanced to full professorship in the Mayo Foundation, Graduate School, University of Minnesota. He retired from the Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation in 1957 to accept a position in Washington, DC, with the Veterans Administration as Chief of Laboratory Services, Department of Surgery and Medicine, where he took part in cooperative studies on mycobacterial infections and other projects of the tuberculosis service. He resigned from this position in 1967, at age 75, returning to Rochester, Minnesota, where he continued to write and to pursue his avocation of photography. Dr. Feldman mastered whatever art there is in histopathology; he Address reprint requests to Dr. Alfied C. Karlson, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55901.
3
4
WILLIAM H. FELDMAN, DVM
American Journal of Pathology
believed in the experimental method of trial and error; he refused to accept arguments such as "It won't work" until it was tried, often at the expense of hours and months of labor. He analyzed data objectively and composed reports in scholarly and precise writing. He wrote about 300 journal papers, many of them bearing names of coauthors whom he had enlisted for aid in chemistry and hematology or for discussions of clinical nature. His acknowledged ability brought him visitors and a voluminous correspondence from around the world; every letter was answered, which gained him many lifelong friends. He was a gracious host who enjoyed conversation and debate in a wide range of subjects, including politics as well as interpretation of whatever slides happened to be on the desk. He never avoided controversy, but his objective and friendly manner disarmed would-be adversaries. A placard stuck to the wall with a hypodermic needle read, "It matters not who is right but what is right." During his years at the Mayo Clinic, Dr. Feldman took on the extra responsibilities of various extramural appointments and elective offices given him by his peers. Each position was accepted as an obligation to be fulfilled. He was Executive Secretary of the Conference of Research Workers in Animal Diseases for 14 years, during which he directed its growth from a loosely organized seminar to a large meeting. He read every abstract; rejections were made in terms encouraging to the neophyte but terse and forthright to his friends and peers. In 1941 he was elected president of the International Academy of Pathology; in 1949 he was one of the founders and the charter president of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists, which in 1970 named him a Distinguished Member. He served on the Council of the American Association of Pathologists and Bacteriologists and in 1952 was elected to its presidency. For many years he was on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, of which he was made a lifetime honorary member. In recognition of his work on antileprosy agents, particularly the sulfones, Dr. Feldman was appointed to serve as an active member for many years on the Advisory Board of the Leonard Wood Memorial Foundation, and he was a delegate to several international conferences on leprosy. He was a consultant to the National Academy of Sciences from 1942 to 1945. He particularly enjoyed service on editorial boards, work which he considered to be a major responsibility. Each paper was read and reread, and references were frequently checked to ensure the validity of quotations. For acquaintances he made direct comments regarding
Vol. 78, No. 1 January 1975
IN MEMORIUM
5
rejection or rewriting. For the young person, Dr. Feldman was always kind and helpfuL Aside from elective offices and appointments to working committees, Dr. Feldman was given many honors, among which were the Pasteur Medal from the Pasteur Institute, Paris; the Trudeau Medal from the National Tuberculosis Association; the Disifnguished Service Medal from the American College of Chest Physicians; the Varrier-Jones Memorial Medal, a British honor awarded for research in tuberculosis. His university conferred the Doctor of Science degree on him and later named him honor alumnus. On entering his cluttered office one saw a disarray of manuscripts, reprints, specimen bottles and slides; his microscope was immediately at hand. In the sink were prints or negatives being washed; discarded proofs were often cast on the floor. He personally made all photographic illustrations for his publications, using a home-made device (Arch Pathol 8:78, 1929), and he discarded every imperfect print. He said every photographer should have a big wastebasket. This "pleasurable recreation," as he called photomicrography, extended to portraits of colleagues and visitors, including 14 Nobel prize winners (Mann: Mayo Clin Proc 48:738, 1973). A collection of his portraits of pathologists is in the National Library of Medicine. A recitation of Dr. Feldman's accomplishments and honors pictures him as the producer of a great volume of important scientific work, which he was. His associates remember him also as a friendly, cordial person. As a teacher he was patient and generous, but he was firm and exacting. He considered everyone in the laboratory as a partner; all who worked with him retained their respect and gratitude for the experience and generated a warm affection for the man. ALFRED G. KARSON, DVM, PhD
6
WILLIAM H. FELDMAN, DVM
[End of Artcle]
American Journal of Pathology
:
f :Fz *{ Z s:: :;e
>'. l.
-t
I. e'
:.
-ev
::
The American Journal of PATHOLOGY JANUARY 1975
*
VOLUME 78, NUMBER 1
William Hugh Feldman, DVM, 1892-1974 THE DEATH ON JANUARY 15, 1974, of William Hugh Feldman at the age of 82 brought to an end a busy life notable for worldrenowned achievement in two distinct fields, veterinary pathology and chemotherapy of experimental tuberculosis. His early work in pathology resulted in many journal papers and two monographs, Neoplasms of Domestic Animals (1932), the first of its kind, and Avian Tuberculois Infections (1938), both still important, widely quoted reference works. His studies on the pathology of tuberculosis in domestic and laboratory animals provided the basis for later work on chemotherapy for which he was recently ranked "with Ehrlich, Domagk, Florey and Fleming, and Waksman" (The Lancet, February 9, 1974, 227). Dr. Feldman, born in Scotland in 1892, grew up in western Colorado. He received the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 1917 from Colorado State University, where he remained for 10 years teaching bacteriology and pathology. In 1927 he was appointed to the staff of the Institute of Experimental Medicine, Mayo Foundation, and in 1944 was advanced to full professorship in the Mayo Foundation, Graduate School, University of Minnesota. He retired from the Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation in 1957 to accept a position in Washington, DC, with the Veterans Administration as Chief of Laboratory Services, Department of Surgery and Medicine, where he took part in cooperative studies on mycobacterial infections and other projects of the tuberculosis service. He resigned from this position in 1967, at age 75, returning to Rochester, Minnesota, where he continued to write and to pursue his avocation of photography. Dr. Feldman mastered whatever art there is in histopathology; he Address reprint requests to Dr. Alfied C. Karlson, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55901.
3
4
WILLIAM H. FELDMAN, DVM
American Journal of Pathology
believed in the experimental method of trial and error; he refused to accept arguments such as "It won't work" until it was tried, often at the expense of hours and months of labor. He analyzed data objectively and composed reports in scholarly and precise writing. He wrote about 300 journal papers, many of them bearing names of coauthors whom he had enlisted for aid in chemistry and hematology or for discussions of clinical nature. His acknowledged ability brought him visitors and a voluminous correspondence from around the world; every letter was answered, which gained him many lifelong friends. He was a gracious host who enjoyed conversation and debate in a wide range of subjects, including politics as well as interpretation of whatever slides happened to be on the desk. He never avoided controversy, but his objective and friendly manner disarmed would-be adversaries. A placard stuck to the wall with a hypodermic needle read, "It matters not who is right but what is right." During his years at the Mayo Clinic, Dr. Feldman took on the extra responsibilities of various extramural appointments and elective offices given him by his peers. Each position was accepted as an obligation to be fulfilled. He was Executive Secretary of the Conference of Research Workers in Animal Diseases for 14 years, during which he directed its growth from a loosely organized seminar to a large meeting. He read every abstract; rejections were made in terms encouraging to the neophyte but terse and forthright to his friends and peers. In 1941 he was elected president of the International Academy of Pathology; in 1949 he was one of the founders and the charter president of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists, which in 1970 named him a Distinguished Member. He served on the Council of the American Association of Pathologists and Bacteriologists and in 1952 was elected to its presidency. For many years he was on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, of which he was made a lifetime honorary member. In recognition of his work on antileprosy agents, particularly the sulfones, Dr. Feldman was appointed to serve as an active member for many years on the Advisory Board of the Leonard Wood Memorial Foundation, and he was a delegate to several international conferences on leprosy. He was a consultant to the National Academy of Sciences from 1942 to 1945. He particularly enjoyed service on editorial boards, work which he considered to be a major responsibility. Each paper was read and reread, and references were frequently checked to ensure the validity of quotations. For acquaintances he made direct comments regarding
Vol. 78, No. 1 January 1975
IN MEMORIUM
5
rejection or rewriting. For the young person, Dr. Feldman was always kind and helpfuL Aside from elective offices and appointments to working committees, Dr. Feldman was given many honors, among which were the Pasteur Medal from the Pasteur Institute, Paris; the Trudeau Medal from the National Tuberculosis Association; the Disifnguished Service Medal from the American College of Chest Physicians; the Varrier-Jones Memorial Medal, a British honor awarded for research in tuberculosis. His university conferred the Doctor of Science degree on him and later named him honor alumnus. On entering his cluttered office one saw a disarray of manuscripts, reprints, specimen bottles and slides; his microscope was immediately at hand. In the sink were prints or negatives being washed; discarded proofs were often cast on the floor. He personally made all photographic illustrations for his publications, using a home-made device (Arch Pathol 8:78, 1929), and he discarded every imperfect print. He said every photographer should have a big wastebasket. This "pleasurable recreation," as he called photomicrography, extended to portraits of colleagues and visitors, including 14 Nobel prize winners (Mann: Mayo Clin Proc 48:738, 1973). A collection of his portraits of pathologists is in the National Library of Medicine. A recitation of Dr. Feldman's accomplishments and honors pictures him as the producer of a great volume of important scientific work, which he was. His associates remember him also as a friendly, cordial person. As a teacher he was patient and generous, but he was firm and exacting. He considered everyone in the laboratory as a partner; all who worked with him retained their respect and gratitude for the experience and generated a warm affection for the man. ALFRED G. KARSON, DVM, PhD
6
WILLIAM H. FELDMAN, DVM
[End of Artcle]
American Journal of Pathology
