In Memoriam

Henry Bicker Bruyn, M.D. ’43, died on August 7 at his home in Kentfield, Calif., at the age of 86. During World War II, Bruyn served as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Naval Reserve medical corps. Bruyn, a pediatrician, was the director of student health services at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1959 to 1972, and was also a clinical professor of medicine and pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine.

Daniel W. Elliott, M.D. ’49, of Dayton, Ohio, died at home on August 1 at the age of 81. Elliott was a medical corpsman during World War II and a captain in the U.S. Air Force Reserve during the Korean War. After his surgical residency at Ohio State University in 1957, Elliott joined the faculty there as an assistant professor and became a full professor in 1963. He later became a professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. In 1976 he helped found the medical school at Wright State University in Dayton, where he was chair of surgery.

Lawrence Z. Freedman, M.D., HS ’48, died from a stroke on October 6 at his home in Chicago. He was 85. Freedman, a pioneer in forensic psychiatry who explored the causes of assassinations, terrorism and mass murder, held joint appointments in the Department of Psychiatry and the Law School between 1949 and 1960 at Yale, where he co-founded and chaired Yale’s study unit in psychiatry and law. In the 1960s he served on the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence.

Robert C. Lange, Ph.D., associate clinical professor of diagnostic radiology, died on October 6 in New Haven at the age of 69. Lange, an advocate for the protection of human subjects in research studies, was a pioneer in MRI technology. After receiving his doctorate from MIT in 1962 and working at the Monsanto Research Corp., he came to Yale in 1969. Until his retirement in 2000 he held a variety of posts, including technical director for the Section of Nuclear Medicine in the Department of Diagnostic Radiology and MRI physicist and clinical echnical director for the Magnetic Resonance Imaging Research Center. He also chaired the Radiation Safety Committee and the Radioactive Drug Research Committee for Yale-New Haven Hospital. After his retirement he worked part time, as chair of one of the medical school’s two Human Investigation Committees.

William Lee, M.D. ’41, of Bath, Maine, died on July 19 at the age of 89. During World War II, Lee was a Navy doctor in the South Pacific, where he earned a battle star and unit citation. Lee, who spent 20 years in occupational medicine, was instrumental in founding the Constructive Workshops, a sheltered workplace for people with disabilities. For 14 years he directed the employees’ health clinic at Hartford Hospital.

Darius G. Ornston Jr., M.D., HS ’63, of Greenville, S.C., died on November 19, 2003, at the age of 69. Ornston came to Yale as a psychiatry resident in 1960 and by 1982 had become an associate clinical professor of psychiatry. In 1986 he moved to South Carolina, where he researched and translated the works of Sigmund Freud. He also authored a book, Translating Freud. Ornston was a longtime member of the Associates of the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale.

Alex Poljak, M.D., FW ’96, M.P.H. ’03, of Branford, Conn., died on July 3, at the age of 41, while biking with his wife and son on Block Island, R.I. Poljak was director of occupational medicine at Greenwich Hospital and a clinical instructor of internal medicine (occupational) at the School of Medicine. He also founded and served as chair and chief medical officer at MedLinx Interactive, a medical software company in New York City, and established two companies, Integrated Medical Systems and Occupational Health Solutions.

Jeffrey S. Schechner, M.D. ’91, of Guilford, Conn., died on September 7 at the age of 39. Schechner, an associate professor of dermatology at the School of Medicine and director of the Dermatology Service at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System in West Haven, focused on vascular biology tissue engineering, and conducted research on blood vessels in the skin and human skin grafting.

Charles D. Spangler, Ph.D. ’42, died on July 5 at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Md., of pneumonia after a stroke. As a commissioned officer for the U.S. Public Health Service, Spangler traveled the world designing water supply and sanitation systems until his retirement in 1968. He then worked as a project manager for the World Bank in the Far East and retired a second time in 1980. Spangler invented a simple, easy-to-repair hand water pump, and to keep it affordable, he refused to patent it. Spangler also taught environmental health through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Parker J. Staples II, M.D. ’66, died at the age of 64 on September 23 at his home in Barrington, R.I. Staples had a private practice in allergy and immunology and was the medical director for Medicare Services in Rhode Island. He also did research for the National Institutes of Health and taught at the medical schools at the University of Rochester and Brown University.

Send obituary notices to Claire M. Bessinger, Yale Medicine Publications, 1 Church Street, Suite 300, New Haven, CT 06510, or via e-mail to claire.bessinger@yale.edu