Leon L. Wiltse

Leon L. Wiltse 1913-2005 Surrounded by his family, and after a two-and-a-half year battle with a brain tumor, Dr. Leon L. Wiltse , aged 92, died peacefully at his home in Carmel, California, on December 19, 2005. Leon was born in Lisbon, North Dakota, in 1913, one of eight brothers and two sisters. He received his B.A. and B.S. degrees in 1937 and 1938 from the University of North Dakota earning Phi Beta Kappa recognition. After serving his internship, he received his M.D. cum Laude from Northwestern University in 1941. During his three-year residency in orthopedics at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, he met and married Dorothy Stene hjem. Entering military service, Army Captain Wiltse was stationed at Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington, D.C., where he became chief of orthopedics. In 1948 the Wiltses moved to Long Beach, California, where Dr. Wiltse set up his orthopedic practice. In a career spanning more than fifty years, he served as a clinical professor of orthopedics at University of Louisiana Medical School, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, University of Texas' Southwestern Medical School and the University of California, Irvine. He led groundbreaking research including the first use of methyl methacrylate-a surgical plastic used to bond prostheses into joints. Dr. Wiltse also studied, described and classified spondylolistheses, a painful misalignment of the vertebrae of the lower back. With Robert Howland in 1985, he invented and developed the Wiltse Spine Fixation System. Just as important as his discoveries and full-time practice, was the Wiltse Fellowship in Medicine and Surgery of the Spine. From 1971 until 1993, Dr. Wi ltse mentored more than forty young spine surgeons. A prolific writer, Dr. Wiltse authored over 150 publications on the various aspects of orthopedics and traveled extensively to lecture internationally. In 2003, the Leon Wiltse Memorial Hospital was dedicated in Seoul, Korea. Dr. Wiltse was a member the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, Western Orthopaedic Association, American Orthopedic Association, Societe Internationale de Chirurgie Orthopedique et de Traumatologie (President, American Section), President of the Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons, and founder and first president of both the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine and the North American Spine Society, as well numerous local and regional medical associations. Lee is survived by his wife of 63 years, Dorothy; daughters, Emily Woudenberg (Paul), Mary (Art Grater); son, Lamont (Edie); and grandchildren Mary Crowell (Sam) and Betsy Woudenberg. As well as his two great-grandchildren, Willa and Charlie Crowell;, he lea ves his brother, Kermit; sister, Wilna; and numerous nieces and nephews. A memorial service will be held at the Church in the Forest in Pebble Beach on Saturday, January 7, 2006, at 3:00 pm. Memorial contributions may be sent to the Spine Research Foundation of the North American Spine Society (22 Calendar Avenue, LeGrange, IL 60525) the Church in the Forest Fund for the Future (P.O. Box 1027, Pebble Beach, CA 93953) or a charity of the donor's choice.