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In Memoriam: Edmund H. Sonnenblick
In Memoriam: Edmund H. Sonnenblick
D
r Edmund H Sonnenblick died on Saturday, September 22, 2007. The cause was an esophageal malignancy. With his passing, Ed's family lost a loving and devoted husband, father, and grandfather; the world of cardiovascular medicine lost one of its most innovative thinkers and prolific investigators; Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases (PCD) lost its senior editor; and I lost a friend and colleague with whom I had worked for more than 40 years. Ed assumed the Editorship of PCD in 19711972, at which time he was a senior cardiologist at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and I was Chief Medical Resident at that institution, having finished my cardiology training the year before. Ed invited me to serve as Associate Editor and I readily accepted. At that time, Ed and I had multiple discussions as to how to move the journal forward. We asked ourselves many questions: Should we maintain the format that the founding editor Charles K Friedberg had initiated? Were any aspects of cardiovascular
disease not adequately dealt with in PCD? What should be the balance between topics of clinical interest vs basic cardiovascular science (the term bench to bedside had yet to be invented)? From the crucible of these discussions emerged a basic philosophy for PCD, namely, that PCD would only publish “invited scholarly review articles on topics of interest to the greater cardiovascular community.” In retrospect, we must have made the right choice. Over the years, other review article journals in cardiovascular disease have come and gone, whereas PCD has not only survived, but flourished, if measured by the usual criteria of the publishing industry. Although I shall sorely miss the advice, counsel, and input from my friend and colleague in planning future issues of PCD, I wish to reassure the readership that PCD will remain true to the basic philosophy articulated for it by Ed Sonnenblick some 36 years ago. Michael Lesch, MD
0033-0620/$ - see front matter doi:10.1016/j.pcad.2007.10.008
Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, Vol. 50, No. 4 (January/February), 2008: p 237
237
D
r Edmund H Sonnenblick died on Saturday, September 22, 2007. The cause was an esophageal malignancy. With his passing, Ed's family lost a loving and devoted husband, father, and grandfather; the world of cardiovascular medicine lost one of its most innovative thinkers and prolific investigators; Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases (PCD) lost its senior editor; and I lost a friend and colleague with whom I had worked for more than 40 years. Ed assumed the Editorship of PCD in 19711972, at which time he was a senior cardiologist at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and I was Chief Medical Resident at that institution, having finished my cardiology training the year before. Ed invited me to serve as Associate Editor and I readily accepted. At that time, Ed and I had multiple discussions as to how to move the journal forward. We asked ourselves many questions: Should we maintain the format that the founding editor Charles K Friedberg had initiated? Were any aspects of cardiovascular
disease not adequately dealt with in PCD? What should be the balance between topics of clinical interest vs basic cardiovascular science (the term bench to bedside had yet to be invented)? From the crucible of these discussions emerged a basic philosophy for PCD, namely, that PCD would only publish “invited scholarly review articles on topics of interest to the greater cardiovascular community.” In retrospect, we must have made the right choice. Over the years, other review article journals in cardiovascular disease have come and gone, whereas PCD has not only survived, but flourished, if measured by the usual criteria of the publishing industry. Although I shall sorely miss the advice, counsel, and input from my friend and colleague in planning future issues of PCD, I wish to reassure the readership that PCD will remain true to the basic philosophy articulated for it by Ed Sonnenblick some 36 years ago. Michael Lesch, MD
0033-0620/$ - see front matter doi:10.1016/j.pcad.2007.10.008
Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, Vol. 50, No. 4 (January/February), 2008: p 237
237