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Wayne R. DeMott ’55

September 18, 2021, in Kansas City, Missouri.

Born in Portland, Wayne graduated from Grant High School, where he played the bassoon in the orchestra. He wrote his thesis, “A Study of the Biology of a Pacific Northwestern Species of Halipegus,” with Prof. Ralph Macy [biology 1942–55] advising and went on to earn a degree in medicine from the University of Oregon Medical School. After completing his residency in pathology at the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco, he served in the U.S. Air Force, including an internship at Madigan General Hospital and as a general medical officer at Larson Air Force Base in Washington.

In 1965, he married Lee Martha Hoffmann. They raised two children, James and Monica, in Westwood, Kansas. For more than two decades Wayne worked as a pathologist at Providence Hospital in Kansas City, Kansas, and was chief of staff. He was instrumental in teaching the medical technologists that Providence Hospital trained and coauthored Laboratory Test Handbook with his colleague and associate David S. Jacobs. Five editions and various formats followed, and the book was translated into 14 languages (including Hungarian). It covered topics from specimen procurement to result analysis for diagnosis and was a staple in labs around the country. One reviewer wrote that the Laboratory Test Handbook is to clinical testing what the Physician’s Desk Reference is to pharmacology.

Wayne’s many interests included music, comic books, and postage stamps. He loved talking about ideas, everything from new business ventures to inventions and scientific discoveries. As a scientist, he loved bees. He was a gifted musician who played the piano from an early age. After a debilitating stroke in 2005, he resumed playing piano, entertaining fellow residents at his senior care facilities. He is survived by his wife, Lee Martha; his son James; and his daughter Monica.

Appeared in Reed magazine: March 2022

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