IN REMEMBRANCE
ROBERT ACLAND , MD 1921-2016
Fig . 1
The January 2016 death of Robert Acland , MBBS , FRCS ( Fig . 1 ), took a colorful , innovative surgical pioneer from the local and international stage . As a University of Louisville ( U of L ) plastic surgeon , Acland contributed greatly to the emerging field of microsurgery over the last quarter of the 20 th century . During that period , he developed essential technology and key instruments for joining tiny arteries and veins ( in the 1-millimeter diameter range ), and he eloquently advocated for applications of microsurgery to the broader field of reconstructive plastic surgery . Subsequently , he created a second career teaching anatomy , with a 7-volume video atlas produced at U of L that added great clarity and perspective to traditional teaching methods . Both his microsurgical tool designs and anatomic teaching aids gained great acclaim and spread worldwide .
Acland was an exceptionally colorful character . In a surgical department filled with strong personalities , he stood out . Although sometimes viewed as a mad scientist ( an image he promoted ), his contributions really came from a steady , intense focus on his projects , with exclusion of all distractions . Thomas Edison ’ s quote , “ Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration ” applies , as Bob ’ s creative insights became reality through his total focus and intense commitment of effort . He possessed an enormous curiosity that ranged from the small technical details of a surgical challenge to the natural world outdoors . He was impishly irreverent , always ready to launch a humor-tipped lance toward accepted conventions , errant principles or pompous personalities . He was fiercely independent , with a proclivity toward the conspiratorial . He had a love of creativity and of the absurd , views he shared with Bette Levy , his wife of the past 24 years .
Acland ’ s individualism , distrust of authority and purposeful
informality were likely related to his unique familial background . His ancestry was rooted in British aristocracy , as represented by the popular PBS series , Downton Abbey . Since the 17 th century , Aclands have held high titles and an extensive ancestral estate with a great manor house and 65,000 lush acres near Exeter , called Killerton . Born in 1941 , he was the second of three sons of Sir Richard Thomas Dyke Acland , the 15 th Baronet of Columb John , and his wife , Anne Alford . Although the setting was aristocratic , with portraits of titled ancestors of over three centuries and paintings by Constable and Reynolds on the walls , a philosophical sea-change engulfed the Acland family after World War II . That era saw the high-water mark of British socialism , and Bob ’ s parents ’ strong socialist leanings gave them leading roles in that movement . Their ancestors undoubtedly turned in their graves as Sir Richard became a Member of Parliament under the Labour banner , and then became a founding member of the far-left British Common Wealth Party , which advocated common ownership rather than private property . Consistent with his principles , Sir Richard donated their ancestral estate to the National Trust in 1944 , a gift that was one of the largest such donations ever made in the United Kingdom . Deprived of the enormous resources of Killerton lands , the Aclands thereafter would have to make it on their own , and Bob ’ s chosen path became medicine and plastic surgery . Currently , Killerton remains beautifully preserved , with a large manor house , formal gardens and beautiful countryside , which vividly represents the peak era of British aristocracy . In contrast , Bob loved informality and simple living , as illustrated by the rustic one-room cabin and outhouse he hand-built and greatly cherished on southern Indiana forest land ( Fig . 2 ). There , Bob took great joy in building , clearing land and massive bonfires . Digging the outhouse trench was especially satisfying . In his parents ’ footsteps , he has donated this to the Nature Conservancy .
14 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE