Thomas Raidy, Ph.D.

Abstract

It is with great sorrow that we note the recent untimely death of Tom Raidy, a long-time friend and significant contributor to our field. Tom received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Waterloo in Canada. Tom served as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of South Carolina at Aiken as well as a Research Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of South Carolina at Columbia, working with Paul Ellis. In the mid-1980s, Tom joined the engineering staff at what was then GE NMR Instruments, in Fremont, CA. Although Tom always considered himself a “theoretician,” he developed exceptional expertise in both the software and hardware aspects of MR engineering. For example, Tom was one of the key figures on the engineering team that developed the second-generation of GE's animal-imaging MR instrument; the Omega. Thomas Raidy, Ph.D. In the late 1980s, Tom joined the GE Medical Systems group in Waukesha, WI, where he subsequently became the engineering manager for the Signa Spectroscopy product. Tom had a seminal role in the development of GE's automated proton spectroscopy package, which was first described in Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 1994;31:365–373. The PROBE (proton brain exam) spectroscopy option was the first truly push-button clinical MRS exam, providing information about localized brain chemistry in less than 10 min. PROBE was granted U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) marketing clearance in June of 1995 and was approved as a reimbursable procedure the following year. Again, Tom was one of the major driving forces in these efforts. For many years following its introduction, PROBE was the only clinical spectroscopy option of its kind and remains one of the leading products in the industry. PROBE has been installed on hundreds of 1.5-T and 3-T MR systems around the world and played an essential role in establishing proton MRS as an important adjunct to a clinical MR exam. After a successful industrial career at GE, Tom had recently returned to academics. Tom held the position of Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Duke University School of Medicine. Tom played a critical role in a variety of clinical research projects in the department and his invaluable MR expertise will surely be missed. Following his move to Duke, Tom also served as an expert reviewer for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. For those of us that knew or interacted with Tom, he was a man of exemplary integrity and generosity. Both clinical MR users and his academic colleagues will remember Tom as a consummate professional, whose selfless dedication was unrivaled by many in the field. Tom was also a devoted family man and is survived by his wonderful wife, Laurel, and their three adult children Tom, Vanessa, and Aidan. Our condolences go out to them for their loss. As many of his colleagues have noted, Tom was “one of the good guys”—we could not agree more. Our field has suffered a great loss in Tom's passing; however, his example will hopefully carry on through those of us who knew him as a colleague and a friend.