Malcom Bagshaw's Obituary
Malcolm Bagshaw, MD, one of the world’s foremost experts in radiation therapy, most notably in developing new applications to radiation therapy for prostate cancer, and leader of the radiology department at Stanford University School of Medicine for two decades, died Sept. 18 at home in Palo Alto after an extended illness. He was 86 years old.A memorial will be held 4 p.m. Oct. 10 at Stanford Memorial Church with a reception following at the Arrillaga Center.Known for his “can do” attitude and far reaching talents for innovation, research, teaching and patient care, Bagshaw inspired loyalty from those who worked with him and drew together a close department that both worked hard together and played hard together. When he wasn’t researching new methods of saving lives from prostate cancer, he was leading bicycling trips to the coast with his Stanford residents.Bagshaw had a knack for building, and his talents extended outside the research laboratory into the photography darkroom that he built at home, his homemade guitar and even an airplane that he built in his living room.”He could do everything,” said Sara Donaldson, MD, professor of radiation oncology who worked with Bagshaw from the time she was a resident in the early 1970s. “Anybody who had a problem would go to Malcolm. He could help you figure out the answer. He was very innovative and was good at thinking outside of the box.”With his wife of nearly 50 years by his side, Muriel Bagshaw, MD, who also worked as a Stanford pediatrician for many years, the Bagshaws often opened their campus home for department parties. Muriel was one of a handful of women to graduate from medical school in the early 1950s. She died in 1998, shortly before the couple’s 50th wedding anniversary. They raised three children together.”It was like his whole life was open to everyone,” Donaldson said.Born June 24, 1925 in Adrian, Mich., Bagshaw joined the Navy out of high school applying for a military program that set him on the track to become a physician. He attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., then graduated from Yale University School of Medicine in 1950.He completed his residency in radiology at the University of Michigan and joined Stanford University School of Medicine in 1956. He was appointed head of the Division of Radiation Therapy in 1960 and became chair of the Department of Radiology in 1972, succeeding Henry Kaplan, MD. When the department separated into two - radiology and radiation oncology - Bagshaw continued as chair of the latter.The field of radiation therapy was both a new and quickly growing field at the time Bagshaw began his medical career. He joined Kaplan’s lead in pioneering the medical use of high energy radiation as produced by linear accelerators in the treatment of a variety of cancers, including those of the head and neck. Fifty years and 40 million patients later, medical linear accelerators have become the backbone of radiation therapy for cancer worldwide. Roughly half of all cancer patients receive radiation therapy, primarily from the rays generated by a linear accelerator.”Where Malcolm really excelled was in his introduction of radiation therapy for prostate cancer,” said Richard Hoppe, MD. Hoppe stepped into the role of chair of the department when Bagshaw retired 1991 and assumed the Henry S. Kaplan-Harry Lebeson chair in cancer biology. (Hoppe just recently stepped down from the position of chair.)”With the development of the linear accelerator more deeply situated organs like the prostate could be treated by external beam radiation for the first time,” Hoppe said. “He became the world’s expert in utilizing radiation for treating prostate cancer and many followed. He developed techniques to more closely focus the radiation in the area of interest. He was a visionary in the field of radiation therapy.”Bagshaw received the 1996 Charles F. Kettering Prize, awarded by the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation, for his instrumental role in improving prostate cancer treatment. Bagshaw and collaborators showed that high-dose, small-field radiation could allow patients to undergo radiation treatment without the need for surgery. Radiation therapy also helped preserve sexual potency and a reduced the incidence of incontinence.Radiotherapy techniques for localized prostate cancer devised by Bagshaw have become a standard of care. He published more than 150 papers on prostate cancer.Hoppe described Bagshaw as a mentor and a role model who held high standards and was understanding and kind to staff and faculty alike.”He always had a smile on his face, he was a fun guy,” he said.”As a dad, he was always there,” said his daughter Cassandra Gay. His hobby as a glider pilot included the entire family; they would act as his crew and follow him on the ground when he flew his glider plane in contests, even once as he was in the path of a hurricane. Her dad was also a big Stanford football fan, Gay said, and was thrilled at a chance to lead the Stanford marching band on the field holding a baton that he rigged with a screw so that it twirled nicely in spite of his lack of baton-twirling skills.”It was his engineering point of view,” Gay said. “If you don’t know how to do something, you figure it out. He was an amazing man, but he was a humble man too. Very down to earth. He loved to garden.”In the last years of his life, his caregiver Filipinas Panganiban, worked tirelessly by his side helping to make his life more comfortable, Gay said.Bagshaw is survived by two daughter Gay and her husband Larry of Palo Alto, and Sarah Machado and her husband Basil of Felton, Calif.; a son, David Bagshaw and his wife Wendy Petersmeyer of Atherton, Calif.; a sister, Pauline Young and her husband Robert of Traverse City, Mich.; and eight grandchildren.In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society, or to the Malcolm A. Bagshaw Visiting Professor Fund, Stanford University Gift Processing, PO Box 20466, Stanford, CA 94309. Please make checks payable to Stanford University.
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