Martin A. Swerdlow, MD (1923-2012)

Abstract

Martin A. Swerdlow, MD, a former chair of 3 pathology departments, died from complications of Parkinson disease on November 17, 2012. Born in 1923 at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, he spoke only Yiddish until starting kindergarten. He received his BS from the University of Illinois (U of I) and had his first publication in 1944 (“Use of Synthetic Detergents in the Van Slyke Determination of Oxygen Capacity”). After graduating with honors from the U of I College of Medicine in 1947, he went to Michael Reese Hospital for a rotating internship and his pathology training, under the Viennese pathologist Otto Saphir. Halfway through his residency, he was sent to Japan for 11 months in late 1950 to direct a US Army pathology laboratory during the Korean War. After completing his residency, he served in the US Army Laboratory Services until 1954, worked several years in Kansas City, and then returned to the U of I. He left after several years to work in 2 small Chicago hospitals, still returning to the University to teach. In 1966, he returned to the U of I/Abraham Lincoln School of Medicine as professor of pathology and associate dean. He was responsible for developing a new, …