Eric Nightingale Campbell Milne

Dr. Eric Milne of the Department of Radiological Sciences at the University of California, Irvine passed away in Bangkok, Thailand, on December 16, 2013, at the age of 84.

Dr. Milne was born on February 8, 1929, in Perth, Scotland. He began his education at the Perth Academy. While at Perth, he did a tour with the Gordon Highlanders in the Mid-east, as well as in East Africa after the partitioning of Palestine. His interest in medicine grew over the years, which prompted him to apply to Edinburgh University Medical School. Milne met his first wife, Norah Symington of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, at medical school. In December 1953, they got married in Newcastle-upon- Tyne, England. After Milne's residencies in the U.S, they lived in Edinburgh for a few years but decided to reside in North America as many family members had moved there over the years.

Professor Emeritus Milne was a renowned clinical chest radiologist, as well as a respected teacher, author, and editor. In his long and distinguished career, Milne founded the Radiological Research Institute of the University of Toronto, the Journal of Thoracic Medicine, and co-founded the Fleischner Society. In 1975, he joined the Radiology Department at the University of California, Irvine. Milnes was still very active in the field and wrote and reviewed research publications long after his retirement.

Milne was a world traveler, an enthusiastic amateur pianist, and loved classical music, fine objets-d'art, and wines. He was a boating and fishing enthusiast. In 1997, Milne remarried to Anne Tuanjai Pho-Ong of Nakhon Sawan, Thailand. Anne and Milne initially split their time between Thailand and Scotland but eventually permanently settled in Thailand among Anne's family.

Dr. Milne was actively involved in his work over his entire adult life and even in his last year of his life was among those leading research in clinical imaging. One of his first medical literature contributions dates back to 1959. In 2010, his works on radiation dose to the breast, intensive care radiology, and optical imaging were published. His last publication in 2014 about pulmonary edema triggered by marathon running appeared in Respiration Physiology and Neurobiology. He was active until his last years lecturing around the world and developing ideas and clinical applications of optical imaging. He expanded on his previous work on angiogenesis and tried to develop a non-ionizing method of detecting breast tumors and determining whether they were benign or not. Besides its use for the breast, Milne explored how pulmonary edema progressed using optical imaging.

He pursued a career-long interest in imaging pulmonary edema and published numerous papers on the topic. In 1993, Eric Milne published a book entitled "Reading the Chest Radiograph. A Physiologic Approach" (Mosby-Year book, St. Louis, MO). The book was based on years of image/physiology correlation, and it is unique in that it teaches radiologists to analyze chest films for physiologic change in addition to the classic morphological changes. The book is widely considered a classic in the field.

Milne is survived by his wife of 16 years, Anne Tuanjai Milne, her children and their spouses (Apple Thiwalai (Morrome "Rome" Khaopoo) and Supakchaya "Panida" Thiwalai (Barbeer Ban Krut) as well as by his former wife, Dr. Norah Milne, their surviving children (Alastair Gordon Marston, Eric Steven, and Penelope Marion) and one granddaughter (Norah Marie). Milne's two youngest sons, Christopher John and Peter John Campbell pre-deceased him; their memorial is at his last home in Scotland.

Scott Goodwin, MD, FSIR
Hasso Brothers Professor and Chairman, Radiological Sciences
UC Irvine School of Medicine