In Memoriam

1950s

Herbert B. Greenlee, MD’55, died on December 11, 2020. Greenlee was a professor of surgery emeritus at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. In 2009, he established the McEachran Homestead Winery. He was preceded in death by his wife. He is survived by his three children and grandchildren. Neil Proshan, MD’58, died on May 21, 2020. Dr. Proshan worked through a polio epidemic in Chicago. He completed his internship at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, New York, followed by a residency in radiology at the Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan. After completing his residency, he served in the U.S. Army. In 1970, he founded Radiology Affiliates of Central New Jersey, now known as Radiology Affiliates Imaging (RAI), with two other radiologists. RAI now includes 56 members and several hospitals in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. He spent nearly 30 years working for RAI, including many as president and chief of radiology at hospitals serviced by RAI. Dr. Proshan is survived by his wife, three children and seven grandchildren.

1960s

Peter Gillette, MD’64, died on December 27, 2020. Gillette served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War. After being discharged, he completed his medical degree, internship and residency at the University of Chicago. When the HIV epidemic erupted in the 1980s, he traveled throughout New York to train medical personnel. He had a lifelong interest in sickle cell anemia and for the past decade was the driving force for the clinical development of a drug shown to prevent the sickling process. Gillette is survived by his wife, Nedra, and his children. Saul Wasserman, MD’67, died on December 11, 2020. Wasserman co-founded and directed the child and adolescent psychiatric inpatient unit at San Jose Hospital. He served on the clinical faculty of the Stanford University Medical School and held various positions in the Regional Organization for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. In addition to his private practice, he was the consulting child psychiatrist for the foster care team of Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County and for many local schools. He was involved in Congregation Beth Am and participated in the lay minyan, the Jewish book group, and weekly Torah study, and taught classes. Wasserman is survived by his wife, Judith; his children, Rachel and Yehoshua; and his five grandchildren.

Stephen Malcolm Scher, MD’68,

passed away on October 10, 2020. Scher met his wife, Janet, at the University of Rochester. She helped foster his interest in research at the University of Chicago, where Scher was awarded the Borden Award for outstanding research with regard to diabetic retinopathy. After completing his internship and residency at the University of Chicago Hospitals, Scher fulfilled his Berry Plan military obligation serving as chief of the Pulmonary Research Department at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. Scher was the chief pulmonary fellow at Albert Einstein Hospital in New York before becoming the first board-certified pulmonary physician in Ocean County, New Jersey, and a fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians. He was an avid sailor, swimmer, snorkeler, and sculptor. He battled fiercely against multiple sclerosis (MS) with his wife, Janet, stalwartly by his side. Scher is survived by his wife, Janet, his three sons, Jason, Sandor and Clifton, and six grandchildren.

1970s

Allen L. Horwitz, SB’66, MD’72,

PhD’72, died on February 17, 2021. Horwitz studied at the Weizmann Institute in Israel, where he made contributions in genetic research and teaching. He was a proud faculty member at the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois. He is survived by his wife, Diane. Arthur Kelly Conrad Jr., MD’78, died on February 15, 2021. He completed his residency at the University of North Carolina, and his fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. As a type 1 diabetic since the age of 3, he was inspired to devote his life to medicine and serving others. He practiced medicine for more than 30 years in Bend, Oregon. Conrad is survived by his wife, Sandra, his three children and grandson.

Emeritus faculty

Jean-Paul Spire, MD

Jean-Paul Charles Spire, MD, a highly respected and beloved emeritus faculty member in the University of Chicago Department of Neurology, died on March 20, 2021. He was a gifted clinical neurologist, researcher and laboratory director whose many achievements include developing interdisciplinary programs with neurosurgery, radiology and vascular surgery. He was involved in many major clinical trials, including the North American Symptomatic Carotid Endarterectomy Trial, and was essential to early studies using PET imaging of the brain in humans. During his time at the University of Chicago, he also helped open one of the first sleep disorders centers in the U.S. and directed a sleep fellowship program in which several of the graduates became well-recognized experts in sleep science and medicine.

Born in Lyon, France, Spire received his medical degree with cum laude from the University of Montreal in 1966. He completed a neurology residency at the University of California, San Francisco, where he later became an assistant professor of neurology and co-director of the EEG Systems Group. Recruited to the University of Chicago by Barry Arnason, MD, James Nelson and Anna Louise Raymond Professor Emeritus of Neurology, Spire was founding director of the clinical neurophysiology laboratories. He was promoted to professor in 1982 and became emeritus in 2007. He trained over 100 fellows from around the world in neurology and neurophysiology, and was an exceptional mentor and colleague. In 2008, following his retirement, he won the Gold Key award, which recognizes outstanding and loyal service to the Biological Sciences Division and the University.

Spire was truly the “face of neurology” for decades at the University, and a colorful and kind human being. He was an avid sailor who spent many weekends sailing on Lake Michigan and completed the Race to Mackinac many times. He loved food, art, music and, most of all, his family, friends and colleagues. He is survived by his wife, violinist Ikuko Mizuno, and family. “Those of us who knew JeanPaul personally valued him as a wonderful friend and colleague. He had a personal warmth and zest for life and an intense loyalty to the University of Chicago, particularly the Department of Neurology, his colleagues on the faculty and our students, residents and fellows. He had a broad and substantial impact and will be greatly missed.”

Shyam Prabhakaran, MD, MS Professor of Neurology Chair, Department of Neurology

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Art and science

Artist Yvette Kaiser Smith, MFA’94, crochets continuous strands of fiberglass into flat geometric shapes that are formed and hardened with polyester resin. A visual articulation of mathematics is used to generate random visual patterns through form and color distribution by utilizing the grid, Pascal’s triangle and sequences from the numbers pi or e. “In this work there is an intersection and hybridization of mathematics and the tradition of time, labor and creativity that can connect us all,” the artist said. Etude from pi 51413 is on display in the Sky Lobby of the University of Chicago Medicine Center for Care and Discovery.