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David Golde

IN MEMORIAM

David W. Golde, M.D.

Professor of Hematology and Oncology, Emeritus

Los Angeles

1940—2004

 

Professor David W. Golde, who served 18 years as a faculty member at UCLA, died on August 8, 2004 at the age of 63.

 

A native of New York City, Professor Golde earned a bachelor’s degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1962 and an M.D. degree from McGill University in 1966. With expertise in internal medicine, hematology and oncology, Professor Golde joined the faculty in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco in 1972 and moved to UCLA in 1974. In 1979 David was named professor of medicine, a position he held throughout his tenure of 18 years at UCLA. While at UCLA, he served as chief of the Division of Hematology and Oncology and was the director of the Clinical Research Center. David also directed the UCLA AIDS Center from 1986 to 1990. In 1991, following his retirement from UCLA, David joined the staff at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York where he served as Professor of Medicine at Cornell University Medical College, Professor of Molecular Pharmacology and Chemistry at Cornell University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, and Attending Physician at Memorial Hospital. In 1996, he was appointed Physician-in-Chief at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Medical Director of Memorial Hospital. While David stepped down as Physician-in-Chief in March 2002, he continued his research and clinical duties at Memorial Hospital until his death in 2004.

 

Dr. Golde provided much to the medical community throughout his career. He was the first to purify and characterize a human white blood cell production regulator, GM-CSF, which aides a patient’s immune system during chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation. In addition, he helped discover a leukemia virus being spread between intravenous drug users and created a blood test to detect it. While at Sloan-Kettering, Dr. Golde continued to treat leukemia patients and conduct valuable research until his death.

 

He is survived by his second wife Geri; a daughter, Lea Marie; two sons, Michael Golde and Daniel Golde; a sister, Barbara Benedict; and two grandchildren.

 

Ellen Montz