Richard E. Horowitz M.D.

May 17, 1931 - March 15, 2017 "In any field, the tall trees shelter, nourish, nudge and encourage. They provide a canopy beneath which we can learn, grow and evolve." A tribute by Dr. Richard Friedberg, President of the CAP. Richard E. Horowitz, 85, was a thoughtful, perceptive, persuasive and calmly persistent doctor. He was a pathologist to the core, a physician inseparable from the science. Born in Vienna, Austria, he came to the US with his parents in January 1939. Dr. Horowitz grew up in Los Angeles. He received a Bachelor's degree in Microbiology from UCLA and his MD from the University of California, San Francisco in 1957. He then did a rotating internship at Los Angeles County General, spent two years in the Army as a Captain at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Washington D.C. where he was head of the Germfree Research Laboratory. He did his pathology training at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. After completing his training, Dr. Horowitz returned to Los Angeles as an Assistant Professor of Pathology at USC County General Hospital. Within two years he was made Associate Director of the Laboratories. In 1968 he left academic medicine to become the Director of Laboratories at Saint Joseph Hospital in Burbank where he was to remain for the next 30 years. While at Saint Joseph, Dr. Horowitz continued his academic pursuits including research and teaching - he was appointed Clinical Professor at USC and later at UCLA as well, and as Senior Attending Pathologist at both the Wadsworth Veteran's Administration Hospital and LA County/USC Medical Center. Teaching was always his favorite activity in medicine - he taught autopsy pathology with his legendary "Organ Recitals" and laboratory management to many of the Pathologists that are currently in practice in Southern California. His management and "Real World of Pathology Practice" seminars influenced pathology practice education locally as well as nationally. He received many teaching awards including the Distinguished Service Award from the Los Angeles County USC Medical Center, The Israel Davidson Award for Distinguished Service from the ASCP/CAP Societies and Award of Excellence from the Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System where he taught Pathology residents until 2014. Dr. Horowitz was elected to the Board of Directors of the College of American Pathologists Foundation in 1992 and in 1996 was elected to be its President. He had published over 75 medical articles, book chapters and books. The CAP Press published his magnum opus in 2011, Laboratory Administration for Pathologists, which he co-authored and edited with Dr. Elizabeth Wagar. Richard was a brilliant man with a wonderful sense of humor who loved music, the arts, books, meaningful conversations and excelled at photography. No one meant more to him than his wife Nona. He cared deeply about his family, mentoring his children and grandchildren and encouraging them to work hard in achieving their goals, while enjoying the process. Dr. Horowitz is survived by his wife Nona, daughters Suzi O'Rear, Elinor Lewis (Jonathan), and Shirley Wainberg (Robert), and grandchildren Madeleine O'Rear, Sammy Lewis, Rachel Lewis and Evan Wainberg.