Guy Jean-Felix Juillard

Professor Juillard was born in the Cantal, Auvergne, a rural region of France. He grew up during World War II, often serving as a child courier for the French Resistance, passing messages amongst resistance fighters

Professor Juillard was the first person in his family to go to high school, in great part due to his grade school teacher's recognition of his quick mind and sharp intellect at an early age. He then went on to medical school at the University of Clermont-Ferrand, but he continued to be devoted to his family in the Cantal, visiting often and working weekends and summers in his father's gravel quarry. After transitioning to Paris for the remainder of his medical school and residency in Paris, Professor Juillard served as Medecin Aspirant in the French Army during the French-Algerian war, then became Chief of the Division of Radiation Therapy at the Cancer Center in Nice.

It was during this time that Professor Juillard met his wife, Joelle Rutherford, a graduate student studying in Nice. She had been hitchhiking due to a transport strike, and he picked her up. Two years later, they were married in the 12th century church in Guy's home village of Lanobre, France. As Joelle finished her PhD at UCLA, Professor Juillard was offered an Associate Professorship at the Department of Radiation Oncology at UCLA, where he remained for nearly 40 years, followed by several more years at the Veterans Administration before he retired at 81 years of age. He loved both clinical care and research, and pioneered the use of active immunotherapy by intralymphatic injection of human cancer cells to treat malignancies.

By far, the part of his work that he loved the most was the time he spent teaching and mentoring generations of residents, many of whom kept in touch with him throughout the rest of his life. His residents notably benefitted from his morning "conferences," during which he would gather up residents or medical students and get lattes before starting clinic. Professor Juillard was a beloved mentor, whose uncommon wisdom and kindness inspired his trainees to be the most human physicians they could be. Years later, one still runs into patients of his who tear up at the mention of the name "Juillard." To a person, they are grateful not only for his expert medical care but for the true tenderness with which he delivered that care. He was the rare physician whose compassion equaled his intellect.

In his free time Professor Juillard, a keen observer, loved to draw, especially the faces and figures of people and animals. He also served as a Trustee on the Board of the Norton Simon Museum of Art in Pasadena, California. He is survived by his wife, Joelle Juillard, his daughters, Catherine and Genevieve Juillard, his sons-in-law, Tony Cardoza and Jay Cairns, his granddaughter Marie Louise ("Malou") Cairns Juillard, and his nephew, Loic David and his two daughters.