Pierre Loiseau

Abstract

Professor Pierre Loiseau died suddenly on March 29, 2004, leaving a world of family, friends, and colleagues at a loss. Pierre was an outstanding clinical neurologist and renowned epileptologist. He also was an unrivalled teacher and an innovative clinical investigator in the field of the treatment of the epilepsies, as well as a pioneer in the epidemiology of the epilepsies. Pierre was born on October 27, 1926, in Toulouse, France, where his father was Professor of English at the University of Toulouse. He and his family moved to Rennes and finally to Bordeaux, where he began his medical studies in 1945. After finishing his medical training, he ran the EEG laboratory at the University hospital with Professor Faure and also worked with his mentors, Professors Bergouignan and Delmas-Marsalet. He was appointed Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry in 1961 at the University of Bordeaux, where he served as chief of the Neurology Clinic for 25 years until he retired in 1995. As a teacher, he was known for his meticulous preparation, as well as for his respect for and understanding of his students. At the patient's bedside, his comments were always thoughtful, kind, and sometimes delivered with a mischievous smile or wink. Pierre made many extensive, lasting contributions to the field of epilepsy. Although never called the “Loiseau syndrome,” benign rolandic epilepsy, perhaps the single best-recognized epilepsy syndrome, was largely identified and described by him. Much of our current understanding of many of the epilepsies that begin during childhood and adolescence has relied on his extensive clinical research into these disorders. Pierre also recognized the need for scientific rigor in clinical research and pioneered the use of statistical and epidemiologic approaches to the epilepsies. Through his clinical work, teaching, and research, he did much to assure that epileptology became recognized as its own discipline in neurology in France and worldwide. Many will remember Pierre Loiseau for his participation in the numerous international meetings to which he was so frequently invited. His nonpresupposing manner and his insightful and good-humored contributions at those meetings were always instructive and often just a little entertaining. Pierre also served as Vice President of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), President of the ILAE French chapter, and president of the French Neurology Society. A prolific author, he left us with more than 500 publications, which we will always have to read and study and learn from. Pierre was endowed with a profound intelligence and an appreciation of the virtues of being simple and discrete. He eschewed honors at the same time as he pushed himself and urged others to attain excellence. Although many admired him, he preferred friendship over flattery. He now rests in Arsac, in Medoc, the magnificent wine country near Bordeaux, which he loved so much. Pierre is survived by his wife, his two sons and their families, as well as by countless friends and colleagues who will always remember him as a great teacher and a friend who understood and savored the true joys of life.