- Email: [email protected]
A. Edward Maumenee All-American Ophthalmologist
VOL. 88, NO. 3, PART I 30. : A transient stage of suspected delayed sensitivity during the early induction phase of im mediate corneal sensitivity. J. Exp. Med. 115:867, 1962. 31. Leibowitz, H. M., Parks, J. J., and Maumenee, A. E.: Manifestations of localized hypersensitivitv in a previously sensitized tissue. Arch. Ophthalmo'l. 68:66, 1962. 32. Parks, J. J., Leibowitz, H. M., and Maumenee, A. E.: Immediate hypersensitivity reactions in the cornea of the guinea pig. J. Immunol. 89:323, 1962. 33. Maumenee, A. E. (ed.): Uveitis. Symposium. Sponsored bv the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Inc. Surv. Ophthalmol. 4:211, 1959. 34. : Toxoplasmosis. Symposium. Spon sored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Inc. Surv. Ophthalmol. 6 (pt. 2): 699, 1961. 35. Maumenee, A. E., and Silverstein, A. M. (eds.): Immunopathology of Uveitis. Baltimore, Wil liams and Wilkins Co., 1964. 36. Maumenee, A. E.: Endogenous uveitis. In Samter, M. (ed.): Immunological Diseases. Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1965, pp. 811-820.
A. EDWARD M A U M E N E E ALL-AMERICAN OPHTHALMOLOGIST Returning home last November from the dedication of the new Lions-Saints Eye Center of Louisiana State University, my thoughts were occupied, of course, with the several ways in which I could have improved my presentation. But more so, I was thinking of the people who had participated. Many of the physicians are among my most durable acquaintances in ophthalmology. One of these is a tall, agile, bespectacled, sparkling eyed, in tense, ardent, and cheerful man. Examin ing him closely, one would not suspect that he was about to become an emeritus professor, for his step is bouncy and his voice strong. There is nothing about this man that suggests the accumulation of years except perhaps a bit of respectable thinning of his hair. He was full of praise for the accomplishments and future pros pects of Dr. Kaufman and for the Center that he had conceived. This is the same man who could have told you that the New York Yankees once again were champions of the world; that
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for the second straight year the Dodgers won the National League pennant and fell to the Yankees in a six-game series; and for the third year in a row, the Phil lies and the Kansas City Royals won their divisional championship in the National League East and the American League West and were then beaten in the play offs. He could have told you also that the Baltimore Orioles tied for second place last year with the Boston Red Sox. For many reasons, he reminds me of another enjoyable one-man show, namely Pete Rose's midsummer assault on Joe DeMaggio's famous hitting streak of 56 consecutive games, which came in 1941, just about one year after I had first met E d Maumenee. At that time, I decided to become an ophthalmologist, so during my internship at the Hospital of the Universi ty of Pennsylvania, I traveled to Balti more to inspect the Wilmer Institute. Dr. Alan Woods, the Director of the Institute, introduced me to two men who seemed much older than I. Both were residents who guided me around the institution and told me the concerns of being a Wilmer resident. Both of these residents stand out in my recollections. Both, later in life, became close friends. One was a tall, dusty blonde, and quiet fellow with obvious intellectual depth. The other was a tall brunette type of similar attitude and attractiveness. The first was John McLean, the other E d Maumenee. Both were graduates of Cornell University School of Medicine, the school that also produced Gerry DeVoe. While in my ophthalmological training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, our paths crossed frequently as participants at the East Coast Ophthalmological Research Club (Hopkins, Cornell, Columbia, Pennsylvania, Harvard), also as investiga tors for the Committee of Medical Re search of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, which was concerned with the management of chemical warfare and ocular casualties. E d Maumenee did
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not seem to be as active a participant in these investigations as Bill Hughes or Roy Scholz of Hopkins, but he was in volved. Later, E d Maumenee left Hop kins to aid the Navy in biological warfare. At the end of the war, he came back to academic ophthalmology, first at Hop kins, and then as Professor and Head of the Department of Ophthalmology at Stanford University. Research work of high caliber began to appear, as did bright, productive fellows. Ed's talent to produce and make others aware of their own capabilities and potential, to recog nize the power structure, and to motivate and to move people and places became evident. Visiting with E d in San Francis co at this time increased my knowledge of this exciting town because of his efferves cent, tireless, warm, gracious, and charac teristic Maumenee hospitality. Ed Maumenee has everything with which Americans identify: ability to work hard and sleep little; competence to per form at every hour of night and day; indifference to his own personal needs; altruistic motivation; an ardent desire to emulate Fred Astaire on the dance floor, John Newcombe on the tennis court, and Jack Nicklaus on the golf course; and complete a New York Times crossword puzzle in record time. At least he provid ed that image. Our years of association have made it plain that he is a completely dedicated man of steady principles. His manage ment has been and is firm and timely, always showing a great interest in the welfare of his staff, especially to see that so many became professors and heads of departments of ophthalmology. He has fostered closer and more cordial relation ships between ophthalmologists of varied interests and between ophthalmologists and individuals in professions other than ophthalmology, for example, senators, congressmen, social scientists, econo mists, college presidents and with United States presidents.
SEPTEMBER, 1979
Our relationship grew as we attended various meetings at scientific study sec tions of the National Institutes of Health, scientific sessions of the American Medi cal Association, the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology, As sociation for Research in Vision and Oph thalmology, and visits to each other's homes. E d started me on serious tennis playing at an Association of Research in Ophthalmology meeting in Miami in 1960. He talked me into being a fourth with Mike Hogan and Lorenz Zimmer man. I never knew if he really wanted me personally or just a warm body to fill this vacancy. It mattered little, because he always made one feel that no one else could do the job. Along the line, E d Maumenee's ability to innovate, produce, demand accuracy, reproducibility, ad vancement of ideas and personnel led him back to Hopkins to fill the director's post at Wilmer. His accomplishments since then are legend in science, educa tion, publishing, high-level politics (both medical and governmental), and patient care. Under his leadership, the Wilmer Institute of Johns Hopkins University also has been among the leaders in ac quiring financial support for buildings, faculty, and research during the last sev eral decades under this man's leadership. Psychoanalysis has found that there are essentially two kinds of human memory, the short term and long term. Short-term memory is best characterized by myriads of facts encountered in every day life: telephone numbers, faces on a moving bus, or the prattle of street vendors hawk ing their wares. Unless otherwise rein forced, these facts or impressions are gone in moments. At times it can work against us. At other times a short memory serves as a positive function and, indeed, is important in filtering out the sensory clutter that comes our way, helping us to order our priorities, discount trivia, rec ognize patterns, and focus our attention on what needs further deliberation. Valu-
VOL. 88, NO. 3, PART I able as a short-term memory may be, it is eclipsed by the vast and prodigious func tion of the brain's almost complete store house, the long-term memory. Here, filed away in profusion, are the deposits of a lifetime's experience. There is a feeling that E d Maumenee can organize the ran dom patterns of his life into meaningful and intelligent form, and thus is better able to remember places, people, events, facts, and performance. E d Maumenee's visual or pictorial memory appears to be matched by his verbal memory. His mind
307
FESTSCHRIFT
always seems to impose order on the world around him, trying to make sense of what it perceives. Through this he has provided an environment for ophthalmol ogy to grow and prosper. There are some people who might pre fer to remember things the way they were. Perhaps E d Maumenee should be consid ered as he was in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. However, I prefer to see him as he is, someone smart, tough, and classy for whom I have an unabashed fondness. IRVING H.
LEOPOLD
A. EDWARD M A U M E N E E ALL-AMERICAN OPHTHALMOLOGIST Returning home last November from the dedication of the new Lions-Saints Eye Center of Louisiana State University, my thoughts were occupied, of course, with the several ways in which I could have improved my presentation. But more so, I was thinking of the people who had participated. Many of the physicians are among my most durable acquaintances in ophthalmology. One of these is a tall, agile, bespectacled, sparkling eyed, in tense, ardent, and cheerful man. Examin ing him closely, one would not suspect that he was about to become an emeritus professor, for his step is bouncy and his voice strong. There is nothing about this man that suggests the accumulation of years except perhaps a bit of respectable thinning of his hair. He was full of praise for the accomplishments and future pros pects of Dr. Kaufman and for the Center that he had conceived. This is the same man who could have told you that the New York Yankees once again were champions of the world; that
FESTSCHRIFT
305
for the second straight year the Dodgers won the National League pennant and fell to the Yankees in a six-game series; and for the third year in a row, the Phil lies and the Kansas City Royals won their divisional championship in the National League East and the American League West and were then beaten in the play offs. He could have told you also that the Baltimore Orioles tied for second place last year with the Boston Red Sox. For many reasons, he reminds me of another enjoyable one-man show, namely Pete Rose's midsummer assault on Joe DeMaggio's famous hitting streak of 56 consecutive games, which came in 1941, just about one year after I had first met E d Maumenee. At that time, I decided to become an ophthalmologist, so during my internship at the Hospital of the Universi ty of Pennsylvania, I traveled to Balti more to inspect the Wilmer Institute. Dr. Alan Woods, the Director of the Institute, introduced me to two men who seemed much older than I. Both were residents who guided me around the institution and told me the concerns of being a Wilmer resident. Both of these residents stand out in my recollections. Both, later in life, became close friends. One was a tall, dusty blonde, and quiet fellow with obvious intellectual depth. The other was a tall brunette type of similar attitude and attractiveness. The first was John McLean, the other E d Maumenee. Both were graduates of Cornell University School of Medicine, the school that also produced Gerry DeVoe. While in my ophthalmological training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, our paths crossed frequently as participants at the East Coast Ophthalmological Research Club (Hopkins, Cornell, Columbia, Pennsylvania, Harvard), also as investiga tors for the Committee of Medical Re search of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, which was concerned with the management of chemical warfare and ocular casualties. E d Maumenee did
306
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF OPHTHALMOLOGY
not seem to be as active a participant in these investigations as Bill Hughes or Roy Scholz of Hopkins, but he was in volved. Later, E d Maumenee left Hop kins to aid the Navy in biological warfare. At the end of the war, he came back to academic ophthalmology, first at Hop kins, and then as Professor and Head of the Department of Ophthalmology at Stanford University. Research work of high caliber began to appear, as did bright, productive fellows. Ed's talent to produce and make others aware of their own capabilities and potential, to recog nize the power structure, and to motivate and to move people and places became evident. Visiting with E d in San Francis co at this time increased my knowledge of this exciting town because of his efferves cent, tireless, warm, gracious, and charac teristic Maumenee hospitality. Ed Maumenee has everything with which Americans identify: ability to work hard and sleep little; competence to per form at every hour of night and day; indifference to his own personal needs; altruistic motivation; an ardent desire to emulate Fred Astaire on the dance floor, John Newcombe on the tennis court, and Jack Nicklaus on the golf course; and complete a New York Times crossword puzzle in record time. At least he provid ed that image. Our years of association have made it plain that he is a completely dedicated man of steady principles. His manage ment has been and is firm and timely, always showing a great interest in the welfare of his staff, especially to see that so many became professors and heads of departments of ophthalmology. He has fostered closer and more cordial relation ships between ophthalmologists of varied interests and between ophthalmologists and individuals in professions other than ophthalmology, for example, senators, congressmen, social scientists, econo mists, college presidents and with United States presidents.
SEPTEMBER, 1979
Our relationship grew as we attended various meetings at scientific study sec tions of the National Institutes of Health, scientific sessions of the American Medi cal Association, the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology, As sociation for Research in Vision and Oph thalmology, and visits to each other's homes. E d started me on serious tennis playing at an Association of Research in Ophthalmology meeting in Miami in 1960. He talked me into being a fourth with Mike Hogan and Lorenz Zimmer man. I never knew if he really wanted me personally or just a warm body to fill this vacancy. It mattered little, because he always made one feel that no one else could do the job. Along the line, E d Maumenee's ability to innovate, produce, demand accuracy, reproducibility, ad vancement of ideas and personnel led him back to Hopkins to fill the director's post at Wilmer. His accomplishments since then are legend in science, educa tion, publishing, high-level politics (both medical and governmental), and patient care. Under his leadership, the Wilmer Institute of Johns Hopkins University also has been among the leaders in ac quiring financial support for buildings, faculty, and research during the last sev eral decades under this man's leadership. Psychoanalysis has found that there are essentially two kinds of human memory, the short term and long term. Short-term memory is best characterized by myriads of facts encountered in every day life: telephone numbers, faces on a moving bus, or the prattle of street vendors hawk ing their wares. Unless otherwise rein forced, these facts or impressions are gone in moments. At times it can work against us. At other times a short memory serves as a positive function and, indeed, is important in filtering out the sensory clutter that comes our way, helping us to order our priorities, discount trivia, rec ognize patterns, and focus our attention on what needs further deliberation. Valu-
VOL. 88, NO. 3, PART I able as a short-term memory may be, it is eclipsed by the vast and prodigious func tion of the brain's almost complete store house, the long-term memory. Here, filed away in profusion, are the deposits of a lifetime's experience. There is a feeling that E d Maumenee can organize the ran dom patterns of his life into meaningful and intelligent form, and thus is better able to remember places, people, events, facts, and performance. E d Maumenee's visual or pictorial memory appears to be matched by his verbal memory. His mind
307
FESTSCHRIFT
always seems to impose order on the world around him, trying to make sense of what it perceives. Through this he has provided an environment for ophthalmol ogy to grow and prosper. There are some people who might pre fer to remember things the way they were. Perhaps E d Maumenee should be consid ered as he was in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. However, I prefer to see him as he is, someone smart, tough, and classy for whom I have an unabashed fondness. IRVING H.
LEOPOLD