In Memoriam JOHN F. ANNEGERS

Abstract

JOHN FREDERICK ANNEGERS passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on February 19, 2000, at the age of 55 years. Beyond the personal loss to so many of us, his untimely death represents a tremendous loss in both established and important emerging investigations in epilepsy and seizure disorders. Fred was a native of Chicago. He graduated from Michigan State University with a B.A. in Geography and a minor in History. He received a National Defense Education Act Fellowship for graduate study in geography before obtaining his doctorate of geography in 1972, also from Michigan State. He subsequently did postdoctoral study in epidemiology at the Mayo Clinic and conducted research on the epidemiology of epilepsy there for 7 years. It was at this point that Fred began what became his lifelong interest in epilepsy. Fred moved to the University of Texas School of Public Health, at the Health Science Center at Houston in 1980 and was a Professor of Public Health there from 1985 until his death. Some of Fred's early work was in the area of teratogenic effects associated with use of antiseizure medication. Fred was an exceptional methodologist who developed strategies to study epilepsy in populations. He made seminal contributions to the understanding of remission of epilepsy, family aggregation of epilepsy, risk factors for epilepsy, and mortality in people with epilepsy, including several studies of sudden death. He also initiated several important, ongoing studies on the cost of epilepsy. Fred was an avid bicyclist. What started as a hobby became a passion. He eventually gave up his driver's license altogether and commuted to work daily by bicycle. In fact, he had bicycled to work on the Saturday he died. Fred had bicycled all over the United States and many parts of the world. He frequently traveled by bicycle from Houston to Seattle where his parents live, and then on to Rochester, Minnesota, and New York or Washington. Fred bicycled by himself in Ireland, England, and Australia and in Germany and the Scandinavian countries with his son, Brett, and in France with his daughter, Clarice. Fred's students would ask him if he considered the great mysteries of life when he bicycled, but he always insisted that he was concerned only with how he was going to reach his next destination and be able to set up camp by nightfall. He will be equally remembered for his arrival at epilepsy centers worldwide equipped only with his cycle, panniers, and wry wit, sharp intellect, and critical assessment of a research strategy. Fred was a dedicated teacher and saw himself primarily in that role. He was fiercely dedicated to his students, and they to him. In addition to his research contributions, Fred's teaching legacy includes the many students at all levels who have learned from him and benefited from his insights into study design, research, and life.