CUAJ honours its members and friends who have passed away. We invite colleagues of the deceased to submit brief remembrances. Please limit your notice to 200 words. Send your notice to journal@cua.org or fax it to 514-395-1664.
Dr. Gordon “Gord” McLorie
It is with great sadness we announce the sudden passing of Dr. Gordon “Gord” McLorie, MD, in Colorado, USA. Dr. McLorie was a pediatric urologist and one of the earliest partners in Canadian urology at SickKids Hospital from 1982 where he remained until 2003.
Over a career spanning 4 decades, Gord amassed a tremendous body of knowledge and achievements in our field. With pediatric urology still in its formative years, Gord’s own unique training with Hardy Hendren at Mass General and in pediatric oncology at UCLA helped shape the field. Gord had longstanding interests in hydronephrosis, pediatric urinary incontinence, stone disease, as well as pediatric oncology and renal transplantation, in particular. Upon his relocation to the U.S. as head of children’s urology, first at Detroit Children’s Hospital, and later at Wake Forrest Medical Centre in North Carolina, Dr. McLorie also made novel contributions to the more nascent field of experimental human trials in bladder replacement.
Constantly wary of the seductive “blue horizon” that risked defocusing young trainees, Gordon always strived to ask important and grounded questions that would make a lasting difference for the children he cared for and the trainees he taught. Dr. McLorie will be particularly remembered for the indelible mark he made in clinical education of post-graduate trainees in paediatric urology. Gord was one of a handful of individuals who single-handedly contributed substantively to the professional training and development of more pediatric urologists practicing today than almost any other surgical mentor in North America, including several established paediatric urology chairpersons working today. Dr. McLorie was also one of the most assiduous surgical practitioners of our subspecialty. He exhibited great skill and a common no-nonsense sense of purpose in his focus on clinical care and surgical solutions.
Even in what would become his final professional stop as Professor of Urology at Children’s Hospital Orange County and the University of California, Irvine, reuniting him with a great friend, former trainee, and partner in California, Gord remained one of the senior reigning members of our academic profession. He will be remembered for commanding great respect from colleagues and former trainees alike. With Gord’s passing, paediatric urology has lost a close friend.
Gord is survived by his dear wife Blair—a pillar of stability to both SickKids Urology for many years, and to their family—their three children Scott, Megan, and David, and his grandchildren.