Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings April 2014, Volume 27, Number 2 | Page 77

good place for Baylor residents and researchers to place their papers, as well as a good advertising vehicle among physicians and health professionals. All four of his children became physicians, perhaps a tribute to his love of medicine. Although he was dedicated to pathology, he had many other interests and abilities. He was an upholsterer, having worked in a furniture factory during high school. He was also a plumber, electrician, and auto mechanic. He directed the continuing education department at the medical school. George was a good pathologist, a good teacher, a good organizer, a man blessed with a near-perfect memory, a forward thinker, a good father, and a good husband. Most of all to me, he was a good friend. JOSEPH W. FAY, MD Dr. George Race was instrumental in the early success of the Baylor Research Institute and the Charles A. Sammons Cancer Institute. His dedication to laboratory discovery, clinical pathological correlation in malignant disease, and translation to the clinical practice of medicine was unsurpassed at Baylor. His ability to understand and help direct investigator-initiated research was evident in the early interaction with me during the establishment of the hematopoietic cell transplantation program at the Sammons Cancer Institute and Baylor Research Institute. This was evident by his support and encouragement to me and others in establishing new approaches to the treatment of cancer with cellular therapy initially using hematopoietic stem cells and, through his legacy, blood cells used to immunize patients to treat cancer in clinical trials involving dendritic cells alone and in combination. Dr. Race made it possible for the establishment of the North American Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program, one of the first cooperative transplant programs in the United States, whose members convened from several academic transplant centers for meetings in Dallas. As a result, several important developments were made in the field of clinical hematopoietic cell transplantation. These discoveries tested in clinical trials included new pretransplant conditioning regimens, cytokines to enhance marrow and immune recovery posttransplant, and methods to prevent graft-versus-host disease and opportunistic infections. These efforts resulted in several publications as well as Dallas community and peer-reviewed grant support. Indeed, such early efforts with the support of Drs. John Fordtran and Marvin Stone led to the successful launching of studies in human immunology in our own laboratories in collaboration with several investigators led by Dr. Jacques Banchereau at the Baylor Institute for Immunology Research (BIIR). Such work resulted in a decade of successful funding by the National Cancer Institute in collaboration with Dr. Ralph Steinman, Nobel Laureate and discoverer of the dendritic cell. Indeed, the blood and marrow transplant research in some way played an important part in establishment of BIIR. Dr. Race with others provided the scientific and clinical catalyst for the BIIR, which has evolved into a major immunology institution with seminal work in autoimmunity, cancer immunotherapy, transplantation immunology, and infectious disease. April 2014 Dr. Race directly and indirectly is recognized as one of the most important members of the Baylor Research Institute’s success. His attitude, work ethic, and interests continue to flourish. Dr. Race will be missed by many. MICHAEL RAMSAY, MD George Justice Race, MD, PhD, was a giant of a man and physician. His contributions to medicine and to BUMC have been outstanding. George’s counseling and mentoring for me, during my career at Baylor, will never be forgotten. George Race became chief of pathology at BUMC in 1959, but he also became a physician leader at Baylor. He planned and built the first “state-of-the-art” pathology laboratories. F