Dr. William Daughaday dies; pioneer in treating growth disorders
Dr. William Daughaday, a leading diabetes researcher and an authority on growth hormone, died Friday May 3, 2013. He was 95.
Dr. Bill Daughaday, who died this month at age 95, was a pioneer in treating people with growth disorders. Patients traveled here from coast-to-coast to seek his help. Colleagues at Washington University thought so highly of him that for years they have told a story about him treating the world's tallest human.
That was Robert Wadlow, also known as the Alton Giant. He was born in Alton and reached a verified height of 8 feet, 11.1 inches.
Dr. Daughaday was one of the leading experts on giantism. He didn't talk about his patients, which may have helped the tale about him and the Alton Giant become a part of the lore among scientists here. In fact, the giant was measured at Washington University.
But the giant and the scientist almost surely never met: Wadlow died in 1940 at the age of 22. That was seven years before Dr. Daughaday arrived in St. Louis to continue his medical training and long before he became a world-famous physician, treating patients with unusual growth disorders such as acromegaly, caused by tumors that make growth hormone.
Although Dr. Daughaday was primarily a research scientist, he also devoted time to treating patients while working in his lab and teaching medical students.
He was known as a world authority on growth hormone and a leading diabetes researcher.
His field was endocrinology, the study of hormones. In 1972, he helped found endocrinology as a specialty, co-writing the first board certification examination for endocrinology and metabolism.
In 1957, he helped discover what makes animals grow. His experiments led to many other discoveries by himself and others.
Friends described him as a humble man, more interested in work than burnishing his reputation. It took 30 years after his groundbreaking investigation into what makes cells grow for him to be honored in 1987 with one of science's highest honors, induction into the National Academy of Sciences.
"He was a giant in the field of endocrinology and became a major figure in medicine," said Dr. Clay Semenkovich, a former student of Dr. Daughaday's, who now heads the metabolism division that Dr. Daughaday founded in 1951 at Washington University School of Medicine.
Dr. William Hamilton Daughaday died May 3, 2013, at a nursing home in Milwaukee, where he had moved to be with his daughter. He was diagnosed with dementia about four years ago, his family said.
He was the founding director in 1975 of Washington University's Diabetes and Endocrinology Research Center as well as its successor in 1978, the Diabetes Research and Training Center.
Dr. Daughaday studied people with stunted growth to try to learn how humans grow. He found that growth hormone alone doesn't lead to growth.
His pioneering work found that growth hormone travels from the pituitary gland at the base of the brain to the liver where it stimulates the release of insulin-like growth factor 1. He also discovered how tumors that secrete abnormally high levels of insulin-like growth factor 2 can cause profoundly low blood sugar.
He grew up in Winnetka, Ill., a North Shore suburb of Chicago. His father was a land developer from St. Louis. His mother's family had built the Drake Hotel in Chicago.
He got his introduction to endocrinology at the laboratory at Northwestern University Medical School, where he worked after his first year at Harvard Medical School.
After graduation in 1943, he spent 20 months in the Army during World War II, serving as medical officer with a MASH unit in Italy. Germany surrendered and he found himself on a boat to the Pacific theater until Japan also surrendered. The boat turned and headed home.
In 1947, an old friend recruited him to Barnes Hospital and Washington University. He recalled brown bag lunches and free exchange of scientific information by "yelling to one another from the various laboratories."
At age 33 he was named the first director of the metabolism division.
He published more than 300 scientific articles and received many honors. He retired from Washington University in 1994 to join the faculty at the University of California at Irvine. He enjoyed hiking, fly-fishing and tying his own flies.
His first wife, the former Hazel Judkins, died in 1991. He later reconnected with and married his high school sweetheart, Nancy Wolcott Ebsen, who had married actor Buddy Ebsen. She died in 2008.
A private graveside service is planned for May 25 in St. Louis. Burial will be at Bellefontaine Cemetery.
Among the survivors are his daughter; a son; four grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
( bio by Michael Sorkin )
Names of the living have been omitted
This memorial was created with the utmost respect for Dr Daughaday
Dr. William Daughaday, a leading diabetes researcher and an authority on growth hormone, died Friday May 3, 2013. He was 95.
Dr. Bill Daughaday, who died this month at age 95, was a pioneer in treating people with growth disorders. Patients traveled here from coast-to-coast to seek his help. Colleagues at Washington University thought so highly of him that for years they have told a story about him treating the world's tallest human.
That was Robert Wadlow, also known as the Alton Giant. He was born in Alton and reached a verified height of 8 feet, 11.1 inches.
Dr. Daughaday was one of the leading experts on giantism. He didn't talk about his patients, which may have helped the tale about him and the Alton Giant become a part of the lore among scientists here. In fact, the giant was measured at Washington University.
But the giant and the scientist almost surely never met: Wadlow died in 1940 at the age of 22. That was seven years before Dr. Daughaday arrived in St. Louis to continue his medical training and long before he became a world-famous physician, treating patients with unusual growth disorders such as acromegaly, caused by tumors that make growth hormone.
Although Dr. Daughaday was primarily a research scientist, he also devoted time to treating patients while working in his lab and teaching medical students.
He was known as a world authority on growth hormone and a leading diabetes researcher.
His field was endocrinology, the study of hormones. In 1972, he helped found endocrinology as a specialty, co-writing the first board certification examination for endocrinology and metabolism.
In 1957, he helped discover what makes animals grow. His experiments led to many other discoveries by himself and others.
Friends described him as a humble man, more interested in work than burnishing his reputation. It took 30 years after his groundbreaking investigation into what makes cells grow for him to be honored in 1987 with one of science's highest honors, induction into the National Academy of Sciences.
"He was a giant in the field of endocrinology and became a major figure in medicine," said Dr. Clay Semenkovich, a former student of Dr. Daughaday's, who now heads the metabolism division that Dr. Daughaday founded in 1951 at Washington University School of Medicine.
Dr. William Hamilton Daughaday died May 3, 2013, at a nursing home in Milwaukee, where he had moved to be with his daughter. He was diagnosed with dementia about four years ago, his family said.
He was the founding director in 1975 of Washington University's Diabetes and Endocrinology Research Center as well as its successor in 1978, the Diabetes Research and Training Center.
Dr. Daughaday studied people with stunted growth to try to learn how humans grow. He found that growth hormone alone doesn't lead to growth.
His pioneering work found that growth hormone travels from the pituitary gland at the base of the brain to the liver where it stimulates the release of insulin-like growth factor 1. He also discovered how tumors that secrete abnormally high levels of insulin-like growth factor 2 can cause profoundly low blood sugar.
He grew up in Winnetka, Ill., a North Shore suburb of Chicago. His father was a land developer from St. Louis. His mother's family had built the Drake Hotel in Chicago.
He got his introduction to endocrinology at the laboratory at Northwestern University Medical School, where he worked after his first year at Harvard Medical School.
After graduation in 1943, he spent 20 months in the Army during World War II, serving as medical officer with a MASH unit in Italy. Germany surrendered and he found himself on a boat to the Pacific theater until Japan also surrendered. The boat turned and headed home.
In 1947, an old friend recruited him to Barnes Hospital and Washington University. He recalled brown bag lunches and free exchange of scientific information by "yelling to one another from the various laboratories."
At age 33 he was named the first director of the metabolism division.
He published more than 300 scientific articles and received many honors. He retired from Washington University in 1994 to join the faculty at the University of California at Irvine. He enjoyed hiking, fly-fishing and tying his own flies.
His first wife, the former Hazel Judkins, died in 1991. He later reconnected with and married his high school sweetheart, Nancy Wolcott Ebsen, who had married actor Buddy Ebsen. She died in 2008.
A private graveside service is planned for May 25 in St. Louis. Burial will be at Bellefontaine Cemetery.
Among the survivors are his daughter; a son; four grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
( bio by Michael Sorkin )
Names of the living have been omitted
This memorial was created with the utmost respect for Dr Daughaday
Dr. William Daughaday dies; pioneer in treating growth disorders
Dr. William Daughaday, a leading diabetes researcher and an authority on growth hormone, died Friday May 3, 2013. He was 95.
Dr. Bill Daughaday, who died this month at age 95, was a pioneer in treating people with growth disorders. Patients traveled here from coast-to-coast to seek his help. Colleagues at Washington University thought so highly of him that for years they have told a story about him treating the world's tallest human.
That was Robert Wadlow, also known as the Alton Giant. He was born in Alton and reached a verified height of 8 feet, 11.1 inches.
Dr. Daughaday was one of the leading experts on giantism. He didn't talk about his patients, which may have helped the tale about him and the Alton Giant become a part of the lore among scientists here. In fact, the giant was measured at Washington University.
But the giant and the scientist almost surely never met: Wadlow died in 1940 at the age of 22. That was seven years before Dr. Daughaday arrived in St. Louis to continue his medical training and long before he became a world-famous physician, treating patients with unusual growth disorders such as acromegaly, caused by tumors that make growth hormone.
Although Dr. Daughaday was primarily a research scientist, he also devoted time to treating patients while working in his lab and teaching medical students.
He was known as a world authority on growth hormone and a leading diabetes researcher.
His field was endocrinology, the study of hormones. In 1972, he helped found endocrinology as a specialty, co-writing the first board certification examination for endocrinology and metabolism.
In 1957, he helped discover what makes animals grow. His experiments led to many other discoveries by himself and others.
Friends described him as a humble man, more interested in work than burnishing his reputation. It took 30 years after his groundbreaking investigation into what makes cells grow for him to be honored in 1987 with one of science's highest honors, induction into the National Academy of Sciences.
"He was a giant in the field of endocrinology and became a major figure in medicine," said Dr. Clay Semenkovich, a former student of Dr. Daughaday's, who now heads the metabolism division that Dr. Daughaday founded in 1951 at Washington University School of Medicine.
Dr. William Hamilton Daughaday died May 3, 2013, at a nursing home in Milwaukee, where he had moved to be with his daughter. He was diagnosed with dementia about four years ago, his family said.
He was the founding director in 1975 of Washington University's Diabetes and Endocrinology Research Center as well as its successor in 1978, the Diabetes Research and Training Center.
Dr. Daughaday studied people with stunted growth to try to learn how humans grow. He found that growth hormone alone doesn't lead to growth.
His pioneering work found that growth hormone travels from the pituitary gland at the base of the brain to the liver where it stimulates the release of insulin-like growth factor 1. He also discovered how tumors that secrete abnormally high levels of insulin-like growth factor 2 can cause profoundly low blood sugar.
He grew up in Winnetka, Ill., a North Shore suburb of Chicago. His father was a land developer from St. Louis. His mother's family had built the Drake Hotel in Chicago.
He got his introduction to endocrinology at the laboratory at Northwestern University Medical School, where he worked after his first year at Harvard Medical School.
After graduation in 1943, he spent 20 months in the Army during World War II, serving as medical officer with a MASH unit in Italy. Germany surrendered and he found himself on a boat to the Pacific theater until Japan also surrendered. The boat turned and headed home.
In 1947, an old friend recruited him to Barnes Hospital and Washington University. He recalled brown bag lunches and free exchange of scientific information by "yelling to one another from the various laboratories."
At age 33 he was named the first director of the metabolism division.
He published more than 300 scientific articles and received many honors. He retired from Washington University in 1994 to join the faculty at the University of California at Irvine. He enjoyed hiking, fly-fishing and tying his own flies.
His first wife, the former Hazel Judkins, died in 1991. He later reconnected with and married his high school sweetheart, Nancy Wolcott Ebsen, who had married actor Buddy Ebsen. She died in 2008.
A private graveside service is planned for May 25 in St. Louis. Burial will be at Bellefontaine Cemetery.
Among the survivors are his daughter; a son; four grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
( bio by Michael Sorkin )
Names of the living have been omitted
This memorial was created with the utmost respect for Dr Daughaday
Dr. William Daughaday, a leading diabetes researcher and an authority on growth hormone, died Friday May 3, 2013. He was 95.
Dr. Bill Daughaday, who died this month at age 95, was a pioneer in treating people with growth disorders. Patients traveled here from coast-to-coast to seek his help. Colleagues at Washington University thought so highly of him that for years they have told a story about him treating the world's tallest human.
That was Robert Wadlow, also known as the Alton Giant. He was born in Alton and reached a verified height of 8 feet, 11.1 inches.
Dr. Daughaday was one of the leading experts on giantism. He didn't talk about his patients, which may have helped the tale about him and the Alton Giant become a part of the lore among scientists here. In fact, the giant was measured at Washington University.
But the giant and the scientist almost surely never met: Wadlow died in 1940 at the age of 22. That was seven years before Dr. Daughaday arrived in St. Louis to continue his medical training and long before he became a world-famous physician, treating patients with unusual growth disorders such as acromegaly, caused by tumors that make growth hormone.
Although Dr. Daughaday was primarily a research scientist, he also devoted time to treating patients while working in his lab and teaching medical students.
He was known as a world authority on growth hormone and a leading diabetes researcher.
His field was endocrinology, the study of hormones. In 1972, he helped found endocrinology as a specialty, co-writing the first board certification examination for endocrinology and metabolism.
In 1957, he helped discover what makes animals grow. His experiments led to many other discoveries by himself and others.
Friends described him as a humble man, more interested in work than burnishing his reputation. It took 30 years after his groundbreaking investigation into what makes cells grow for him to be honored in 1987 with one of science's highest honors, induction into the National Academy of Sciences.
"He was a giant in the field of endocrinology and became a major figure in medicine," said Dr. Clay Semenkovich, a former student of Dr. Daughaday's, who now heads the metabolism division that Dr. Daughaday founded in 1951 at Washington University School of Medicine.
Dr. William Hamilton Daughaday died May 3, 2013, at a nursing home in Milwaukee, where he had moved to be with his daughter. He was diagnosed with dementia about four years ago, his family said.
He was the founding director in 1975 of Washington University's Diabetes and Endocrinology Research Center as well as its successor in 1978, the Diabetes Research and Training Center.
Dr. Daughaday studied people with stunted growth to try to learn how humans grow. He found that growth hormone alone doesn't lead to growth.
His pioneering work found that growth hormone travels from the pituitary gland at the base of the brain to the liver where it stimulates the release of insulin-like growth factor 1. He also discovered how tumors that secrete abnormally high levels of insulin-like growth factor 2 can cause profoundly low blood sugar.
He grew up in Winnetka, Ill., a North Shore suburb of Chicago. His father was a land developer from St. Louis. His mother's family had built the Drake Hotel in Chicago.
He got his introduction to endocrinology at the laboratory at Northwestern University Medical School, where he worked after his first year at Harvard Medical School.
After graduation in 1943, he spent 20 months in the Army during World War II, serving as medical officer with a MASH unit in Italy. Germany surrendered and he found himself on a boat to the Pacific theater until Japan also surrendered. The boat turned and headed home.
In 1947, an old friend recruited him to Barnes Hospital and Washington University. He recalled brown bag lunches and free exchange of scientific information by "yelling to one another from the various laboratories."
At age 33 he was named the first director of the metabolism division.
He published more than 300 scientific articles and received many honors. He retired from Washington University in 1994 to join the faculty at the University of California at Irvine. He enjoyed hiking, fly-fishing and tying his own flies.
His first wife, the former Hazel Judkins, died in 1991. He later reconnected with and married his high school sweetheart, Nancy Wolcott Ebsen, who had married actor Buddy Ebsen. She died in 2008.
A private graveside service is planned for May 25 in St. Louis. Burial will be at Bellefontaine Cemetery.
Among the survivors are his daughter; a son; four grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
( bio by Michael Sorkin )
Names of the living have been omitted
This memorial was created with the utmost respect for Dr Daughaday
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