Donald Pinkel, a pediatrician who revolutionized the treatment for a once-deadly form of childhood leukemia, died last Wednesday (March 9) in his home in San Luis Obispo, California, at the age of 95.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Pinkel’s long-time place of work, announced his death but did not give a specific cause, reports The Washington Post.
Pinkel was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1926 to Anne and Lawrence Pinkel. In 1944, he joined the Navy, and then went to Cornell University as part of the service’s V-12 program, reports The New York Times. He finished his undergraduate degree at Canisius College in Buffalo, then went to medical school at the University of Buffalo, defraying some of the cost by joining the Army Reserve Medical Command, and earned his degree in 1951. Pinkel specialized in pediatrics, finding his niche in childhood cancer. He completed a series of residencies before ...
