OBITUARY George Garratty, PhD, FIBMS, FRCPath, 1935-2014

The world of immunohematology and transfusion medicine lost one of its most popular and productive scientists with the death of Dr George Garratty. I have been a friend, associate, and scientific colleague of George for 53 years and therefore feel qualified to comment on numerous aspects of his remarkable career. George’s earliest professional training came in London, England, which started as a result of a summer job that happened to be at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School in the laboratory of two physicians who became world leaders in their fields. Dr John Dacie (ultimately to be knighted and become Professor Sir John V. Dacie) was head of the Haematology Department and Dr Patrick M. Mollison was Director of Blood Transfusion. George was inspired by their contributions to medicine, and this led to his decades of research in these fields. He became Chief Biomedical Scientist of the Haematology and Blood Transfusion Department at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School and, in 1960, a Fellow of the Institute of Biomedical Sciences (FIBMS) England. In 1968 he took a position as Research Associate, University of California, San Francisco, a position he held for a decade. During this time he quickly became remarkably productive, publishing articles on what would become lifelong interests. These included autoimmune hemolytic anemias, drug-induced immune hemolytic anemias, blood groups and disease, and problems in pretransfusion compatibility testing. Detailed serologic tests for diagno© 2014 AABB TRANSFUSION 2014;54:1686-1687. 1686

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sis of the various categories of autoimmune hemolytic anemias and drug-induced immune hemolytic anemias were not well known at that time and his publications provided valuable new data that quickly became the basis for clinical care and for further research in these fields. In 1978 he was recruited to be the Scientific Director of the American Red Cross Blood Services, Southern California Region, and became Clinical Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. During 36 years of investigative work he advanced the field of immunohematology and transfusion medicine with data on numerous drug-induced immune cytopenias, hemolytic disease of the newborn, predicting the clinical significance of blood group antibodies, platelet immunology, paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, and the diagnosis of autoimmune hemolytic anemias with a negative antiglobulin test and by making contributions to the Retrovirus Epidemiology Donor Study. He also directed the Reference Services (Red Cell and HLA/ Platelet Immunology Laboratories) and Community Education including the SBB Program. In addition to more than 350 publications in highly respected medical journals, Dr Garratty has been the author of three books, including two editions of Immune Hemolytic Anemias with coauthor Dr Lawrence Petz. He has been the editor of eight additional books including Blood Group Antigens and Disease, Hemolytic Disease of the Newborn, Immunobiology of Transfusion Medicine, Applications of Molecular Biology of Blood Transfusion Medicine, and Molecular Methods in Immunohematology. In the face of all of the above contributions to the medical literature, it is interesting to note that one of the things he was most proud of regarding his career was teaching. He is recognized as an enthusiastic and energetic lecturer while providing valuable data in a readily understandable format. This led him to be invited to give innumerable local lectures to students and blood bank colleagues. Moreover, he has frequently been invited to give lectures around the world, often during a conference at which he was given an honorary award. The walls in his office are covered with plaques and medals indicating such honors. The awards are too numerous to list in their entirety but include the Ivor Dunsford Memorial Award of the AABB, the Owen Thomas Memorial Award of the California Blood Bank Society, the Charles R. Drew Award of the American Red Cross, the Emily Cooley Memorial Award of the AABB, the Morten Grove-Rasmussen Memorial Award of the AABB, the Philip Levine Outstanding Research Award of the American Society of Clinical

OBITUARY

Pathologists, the Iain Cooke Memorial Award of the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service, the James Blundell Award of the British Blood Transfusion Society, and the Bernard Fantus Lifetime Achievement Award of the AABB. The latter is not an annual award but is given only about every 5 years when a deserving scientist is recognized; it has only been awarded four previous times since its inception in 1987. In addition, he was invited to speak at formal lectureships including the Jean Stubbins Memorial Lectureship of the University of Texas, the Alexander S. Wiener Memorial Lectureship from the New York Blood Center, the De Gowin Lectureship of the University of Iowa, the Bill Stone Distinguished Speaker Award of the South Texas Blood and Tissue Center, the Leo J. McCarthy Lectureship in Transfusion Medicine from the University of Indiana, the Suzanne Ledin Memorial Lectureship from the California Blood Bank Society, the Graham Jamieson Lectureship in Blood Research from the American Red Cross, and the Richard R. Davey Lectureship Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Finally, at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the CBBS, Dr Garratty was posthumously given the Perkins Award. Moreover, the name of this annual award was changed to the Perkins/Garratty Award to perpetuate the remembrance of George and his accomplishments. Somehow he also managed to find time to serve on over 20 local, national, and international committees including the AABB Scientific Program Committee, the Board of Directors of the California Blood Bank Society, the Standards Committee of the AABB, the NIH Hematology Study Section, and the AABB Transfusion Medicine Research Strategies Committee. He also served as President of the California Blood Bank Society and has represented North America on the International Society of Blood Transfusion Council. He has been an Associate Editor of TRANSFUSION for 31 years and was a member of the Editorial Board on a number of transfusion medicine and immunohematology journals. He has been an active member of the AABB, the American Association of Immunologists, the American Federation for Clinical

Research, the American Society of Hematology, the British Blood Transfusion Society, the California Blood Bank Society, the Institute of Biomedical Sciences (UK), the International Society of Blood Transfusion, and the Royal College of Pathologists (UK). Beyond the many awards, journal articles, books, chapters, and the lectures are the contributions he made at a human level. George was universally liked and he generated a friendly, energetic, and enthusiastic environment wherever he went. Never have I heard a negative comment about his interpersonal relationships. His commitment to education leaves a legacy of students and colleagues who will long remember him with appreciation. At the time of his retirement numerous tributes from physician scientists were received at the American Red Cross such as: “Your incredible body of work speaks for itself and will outlive all of us; it’s your personality, with its unique blend of humility, humor and optimism that can neither be duplicated nor replaced. You are that rare, one of a kind.” George is survived by Eileen, his lovely wife of 45 years. They frequently traveled together around the globe on vacations and to attend his lectures and professional meetings. They were both animal lovers; she developed an interest in competitive dressage, an equestrian sport that is considered the highest expression of horse training. Also, they had a mutual interest in Great Dane dogs, at least two of which shared their home at all times. I believe that all will agree that George’s death does, indeed, mark the end of an era in the world of immunohematology and transfusion medicine.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST The author has disclosed no conflicts of interest.

Lawrence D. Petz, MD e-mail: [email protected] StemCyte International Cord Blood Center Covina, CA

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George Garratty, PhD, FIBMS, FRCPath, 1935-2014.

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