IN MEMORIAM

Werner Flacke

Professor of Anesthesia and Pharmacology, Emeritus

UC Los Angeles

1924 – 2008

 

Werner Flacke, M.D. died on April 24, 2008, of complications following a stroke. Dr. Flacke joined the Department of Anesthesiology at UCLA in 1976, where he was professor of anesthesiology and pharmacology, eventually retiring in 1991.

 

Werner served in the German armed forces during World War II and was decorated for bravery.

 

He received his Abitur degree in 1942 from the Gymnasium Carolinum in Osnabruck. Following his active duty, Werner then studied at the Universities of Munster and Marburg, where he completed his doctor of medicine at the University of Dusseldorf. From 1954 to 1955, he did a visiting instructorship in his field of pharmacology at Harvard Medical School.

 

At the end of 1955, Werner joined the junior faculty at Harvard’s Department of Pharmacology, where he met his future wife Joan who had attended his pharmacology lectures. He continued on staff at Harvard Medical School faculty until 1970.

 

Later that year, he became professor and chairman of the Pharmacology Department at the University of Arkansas, and he and his family relocated to Little Rock.

 

In 1976, the Department of Anesthesiology at UCLA was fortunate when Dr. Flacke accepted an appointment and moved to Los Angeles. During his academic career he was a member of the Pavlovian Society, the Biophysical Society, the German Pharmacological Society, and was senior fellow of the Max Planck Society.

 

Werner had several Research Statements and Publications published in the American Men & Women of Science and was in the Who’s Who in the South and Southwest two years in a row (1975-76 and 1976-77). Many future generations of physicians learned pharmacology from him and highly praised Werner for his teaching skills.

 

Upon his wife Joan’s retirement from UCLA, both Werner and Joan moved permanently to Colorado. First to Vail where the family had been skiing since 1971, and then later they built a house in Wolcott. It was in Wolcott that he was able to enjoy retirement for more than a decade with his wife of 51 years.

 

With physical ailments and Alzheimer’s claiming some of Werner’s vitality, friends still saw how considerate and captivating he was and he will be greatly missed.

 

Patricia A. Kapur