In memoriam, Dr. E. Chester Ridgway, 1942-2014.

Abstract

The Endocrine Society, the world of endocrinology, and the family and innumerable friends and colleagues of Chip Ridgway were immensely saddened to learn of his very untimely death on July 31, 2014. Chip was a graduate of Dartmouth College and an AOA graduate of the University of Colorado School of Medicine, magna cum laude. His internship, medicine residency, and endocrinology fellowship were all at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He served two years in the Navy as Chief of Endocrinology at San Diego prior to returning to Massachusetts General, where he served as Chief of the Thyroid Unit and Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, until 1985. He moved back to the University of Colorado in 1985 to become the Frederic C. Hamilton Professor of Medicine and Division Head of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Diabetes. Chip received the high honor of Distinguished Professor at the University of Colorado in 2011 and remained at the University until his death. Chip relinquished the role of Division Director in 2007 but continued to serve as interim Chair of Medicine and Executive Vice Chair of Medicine. He has been Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs for nearly 20 years. Peer recognition of his stellar career led to early election to membership in the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, and Mastership in the American College of Physicians. Chip generously shared his professional life as a physician-scientist between his associates at the University of Colorado, numerous international colleagues and collaborators, and his two favorite professional societies, the Endocrine Society and the American Thyroid Association (ATA). He served as member and chairman of many committees in both societies and on the Council of the Endocrine Society and on the Executive Board of the ATA. He was elected President of the ATA in 1996–1997 and President of the Endocrine Society in 2003–2004. His welldeserved honors and awards were many, including the Distinguished Service Award, Paul Starr Award, Stanbury Thyroid Pathophysiology Medal, and Lewis Braverman Lectureship Award from the ATA, and the Robert H. Williams Distinguished Leadership Award from the Endocrine Society. Chip founded and directed a “Fellows Day” conference dedicated to thyroid disease at the ATA annual meeting for the past 20 years, touching the careers of over 100 fellows each year. Indeed, his dedication to both education and the growth, development, and mentorship of his fellows and junior colleagues was legend-