Laurence Pilgeram

Laurence O. Pilgeram

Dr. Laurence O Pilgeram, formally of Great Falls and Eden, passed away at the age of 90, at his home in Goleta, CA on April 10, 2015. He was born in Great Falls on june 23, 1924 and raised on the family farm at Eden. Laurence went to the Meisenbach school through the 8th grade and then went on to attend Great Falls high school for 1 year before returning to the ranch. In 1944, he got a job announcing for KFBB radio station and in 1945 entered the Gradwohl School of Laboratory and Medical Technology in St. Louis, Missouri. There he completed his high school education and then entered the University of California at Berkeley, being awarded his Ph. D in Biochemistry in 1953. In 1954-55 he served as an Instructor in Physiology at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago. After two years, he accepted an offer to develop and head an Arteriosclerosis Research Laboratory at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine. He later moved to Santa Barbara, Ca for a time before joining the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX to develop and head the Coagulation Laboratory there. Dr. Pilgeram was honored with multiple awards during his lifetime of research into aging and Arteriosclerosis including the International Karl Thomae award from Germany, awarded to him in Vienna Austria in 1973. During his career, he was associated with many prominent people in medicine and research. Included was Dr. DeBakey and Dr. Coolee of Houston, TX, who performed the first heart transplants along with Senator Hubert Humphrey, who was instrumental in Dr. Pilgeram receiving various government grants allowing for the research programs he directed.

He is survived by his two sons, Karl Pilgeram of Santa Barbara, CA and Kurt Pilgeram of Dutton, Mt, as well as his granddaughters Stacy Pilgeram, Natasha Pilgeram and grandson Benjamin Pilgeram, his brother Jim Pilgeram of Eden, MT and sister Laverne Kitson of Cascade, Mt.