In memoriam Prof. Peter T. Macklem, 1931–2011: a tribute from the European Respiratory Society

Abstract

It is our sad duty to announce the passing of Prof. Peter T. Macklem to the readers of the European Respiratory Journal ( ERJ ) and the members of the European Respiratory Society (ERS). Peter Macklem passed away suddenly at home on Friday February 11, 2011, at the age of 79 years. His passing is an immense loss to the ERS and to the whole respiratory community, for which he was one of the main sources of inspiration, creativity and innovation. Getting to know him as both a person and a scientist was an exquisite experience and he will be sadly missed by everyone who came in contact with him. Born in 1931, Peter grew up in Kingston, ON, Canada where he attended Queen's University and obtained a Bachelor's degree in 1952. He then entered McGill University Medical School (Montreal, QC, Canada), where he obtained an MDCM in 1956. Following residency training in internal medicine at the Royal Victoria Hospital (Montreal), he became a research fellow in the Cardio-Pulmonary Service then headed by David Bates, where he was introduced to the study of lung mechanics by Dr Margo Becklake. This subject rapidly became the scientific love of his life and a constant theme of the many areas of pulmonary medicine and physiology that he contributed to. He became a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada by examination in 1963 and was appointed an Instructor in Medicine and Clinical Assistant at the Royal Victoria Hospital, after a fellowship with Jere Mead at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, MA, USA, with whom he maintained lifelong contact and whom he greatly respected. Following this seminal experience, Peter returned to Montreal where he quickly developed into an outstanding clinical scientist with deep interests in both basic research and …