Requiescat in Pace, Dr. Donald Pinkel '44.

We mourn the loss of Pinkel, who was a pioneer in cancer treatment and the first director of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

“Donald Pinkel introduced the word 'cure' to cancer,” said Dr. James Downing, current president and CEO of St. Jude.

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The following is a story about Pinkel and his legacy that was published in the Summer 2017 edition of CHS Today:

CANCER FIGHTER

Don Pinkel, MD ‘44 led groundbreaking pediatric cancer research, fought racial injustice, and won awards. Now, he’s helping Canisius students through a scholarship.

Someday we may live in a world without cancer. When that day comes, thanks may be due in part to Dr. Don Pinkel, '44.

Dr. Pinkel pioneered treatments in the 1960s at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis that greatly improved the survival rate for pediatric cancer patients.

He went against the then-standard protocol of treating patients with one anti-leukemia drug at a time, to try what was considered a radical new method he called “Total Therapy.” Total Therapy incorporated multiple drugs in combination, along with radiation. It was a success. Children who had received Total Therapy were living years longer in remission. His groundbreaking advances in the field are still informing the work of researchers studying cancer today.

Pinkel himself was the victim of another devastating disease. He contracted polio in 1954 while working as a pediatrician in the Army Medical Corps in Massachusetts. He spent the better part of a year learning how to walk again, first using braces, and then with crutches.

Pinkel returned to Buffalo in 1956 as the first chief of pediatrics at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. But, Buffalo’s cold winters and his polio-compromised lungs put him at risk for pneumonia.

So, an opportunity at the new St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in warmer Memphis caught his eye. It was a position that would allow him to focus on pediatric cancer research, and also appealed to his sense of social justice.

Many hospitals in the South were still segregated. That was unacceptable to Pinkel. He would only take the job after confirming that St. Jude would treat all children of all races.

During Pinkel’s years at St. Jude, the hospital provided care for low-income, inner-city families. Pinkel saw mothers and children suffering from malnutrition. He and his staff worked to find solutions. Their efforts helped establish the federal Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Nutrition and Health program in the 1970s. Today, the program provides millions of Americans each year with food, nutrition counseling and access to health care.

Pinkel now lives in California with his wife, pediatric oncologist Cathryn Howarth, M.D., but he’s never forgotten his Buffalo roots, or Canisius.

“Canisius High School provided an excellent classical education to prepare students with broad knowledge and fine study discipline that are so important not only for medical/scientific education but also for scientific research and reliable patient care,” says Pinkel.

Although none of the Pinkel’s 10 children attended Canisius High School since they didn’t grow up in Western New York, they recognize the school’s role in forming their father into a man who uses his talents to help others. They have established the Donald P. Pinkel, M.D. '44 Scholarship at Canisius to provide a quality Jesuit education to future generations of young men.

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Read the obituary in the New York Times

Read the obituary in Memphis' Commercial Appeal

Read the tribute by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital