Harry W. McFadden, Jr., M.D., a legendary professor and mentor who devoted 62 years of his life to UNMC, died Monday afternoon at Methodist Hospital in Omaha.
A nationally-recognized pathologist, Dr. McFadden, 92, was best known as the first and only chairman of UNMC’s Department of Medical Microbiology from 1956 until his retirement in 1985, when the department merged with the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. It is now the Department of Pathology and Microbiology.
“Dr. McFadden had a major impact on our department and the entire campus,” said Steven Hinrichs, M.D., chairman of the department of pathology and microbiology.
“As chairman, he established the groundwork for our clinical laboratories and the basic research program in microbiology. We benefited from his expertise as well as his family’s friendship with the department,” he said.
Upon his retirement, he was honored with the establishment of the Harry W. McFadden, Jr., M.D. Lectureship. The annual event, sponsored by the Department of Pathology and Microbiology and the College of Medicine Alumni Class of 1964, has presented several outstanding individuals, including Nobel Prize laureates.
“He was instrumental in developing educational programs and his legacy will continue in this lectureship,” Dr. Hinrichs said.
Dr. McFadden, born Dec. 9, 1919, in Greenwood, Nebraska, graduated from the University of Nebraska College of Medicine in 1943, was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha and Sigma Xi and Phi Chi in medical school.
After completing an internship and residency in pathology at the College of Medicine, he served with the medical corps of the United Sates Army in Berlin, Germany from 1945 to 1947. When he returned, he joined the College of Medicine faculty in 1949 as an instructor in the Department of Pathology and Bacteriology.
He was active in teaching, service and research and has received local, state and national recognition for his efforts in these areas. He has been honored on numerous occasions by the medical students with outstanding teacher awards and received the basic science award in1958, 1959, 1961, 1962 and 1977. He served as acting chancellor of UNMC in 1971-1972, and interim chancellor 1976-77.
He received the J. G. Elliott award in 1985 for his significant contributions to medicine and health programs for the state of Nebraska, and the Meritorious Service Award in 1980 for his contributions to medical school and allied health education. In 2006, he was named one of five Legends of UNMC.
At the state level, he was elected to the Council on Microbiology of the American Society of Clinical Pathologists and served as its chairman for two years.
On the national level, he was elected to the Council on Microbiology of the American Society of Clinical Pathologists, serving as its chairman for two years. He is a former trustee and president of the American Board of Pathology.
Dr. McFadden’s research stretches back more than 50 years. Since that time, he has authored more than 33 abstracts, journal articles, book chapters and books. Two of his most important publications were the books “Atlas of Medical Mycology” in 1967, and “Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing” in 1970.
Always a staunch supporter of UNMC, he was a member of the Edward A. Holyoke, M.D., Ph.D., Society that honors the physicians who have made gifts of $100,000 or more to the Michael F. Sorrell Center for Health Science Education project.
He and his late wife of 65 years, Josephine Patricia (Kerns), had two children. He is survived by son, Harry E. McFadden, M.D., who graduated from UNMC in 1974 and is now in family practice; daughter-in-law Janet; daughter, Mary Jean McFadden, a medical illustrator who contributed to a pathology textbook developed at UNMC; six grandchildren and three great grandchildren.