Issue link: https://ahint.epubxp.com/i/574474
10 ASHI Quarterly Third Quarter 2015 On Friday, July 17, we lost a good friend and a highly regarded member of our scientific community Dod contributed to the histocompatibility community in many ways Dod began his career in HLA in 1970 at Tulane His wit and sense of humor became rapidly evident In fact, Louise Jacobbi, who had hired him and was his supervisor, fired him several times for playing practical jokes, but, typical Dod, he just showed up for work the next morning During his tenure at Tulane, he became proficient in running the kidney preservation machine, which he did while working up deceased donors Several years later, Dod moved to the Ochsner foundation and, together with Shannon Cooper, the lab director, set up the histocompatibility lab, where he stayed for the rest of his HLA career Dod was an active participant in numerous regional, national, and international histocompatibility workshops and was a major contributor of high-quality HLA sera to the international workshops He had a notable presence in several organizations In ASHI, he served as an ASHI Board member and as Treasurer, was a Program Director of the Accreditation Review Board, was an organizer and presenter at numerous ASHI annual meeting workshops, and served on the ASHI QAS, Finance and Audit, Nominations, and Education Committees In 1994, Dod received the Outstanding Technologist Award and in 1996 received the ASHI Distinguished Service Award Dod was a past Co-Chair of the AFDT (SEOPF) Histocompatibility Committee and a Co-Director of that organization's PT program and had been a member of the UNOS Histocompatibility Committee Dod also made many notable contributions as an educator For more than 20 years, Dod was the Director of the AFDT (SEOPF) Histocompatibility Specialist Course, lectured in the Mexico Immunogenetics Workshop directed by Clara Gorodezky, and helped organize and lectured in the One Lambda Advanced Technical Workshops Dod was a Past President of the American Board for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics On the local level, he trained numerous technologists in his own laboratory and kept the laboratory at the forefront of technology However, as much as Dod contributed to HLA and histocompatibility testing, he had many other passions, one of which was pottery Dod was a collector and purveyor of pottery, a past president of the American Art Pottery Association, and a regular at the Pottery Lovers annual gathering in Zanesville, Ohio Dod was a collector of Shearwater Pottery, which is one of the earliest American art potteries, and was founded in 1928 in Ocean Springs, Mississippi Dod's collection of Shearwater Pottery was among those displayed at a special exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution In 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed 17 of the 19 buildings of Shearwater Pottery and with it, many valuable art pieces The only record of the original compound can be found in Dod's book on Shearwater Pottery, which is considered authoritative and comprehensive ( http://dodstewart com/shearwater-pottery-book ) Dod was a talented musician playing both piano and guitar He was an amateur horticulturist, maintaining a greenhouse of orchids he had cultivated as well as many beautiful plants in his yard Dod loved Southern Louisiana, especially Slidell, his home, and New Orleans Despite having storms destroy his plants, pottery, and other belongings multiple times, he steadfastly refused to move to a more protected area Over the past few years, illness prevented Dod from doing many of the things he loved but did not dampen his spirit or his wit All of his accomplishments only partly define the person Dod was, but he is perhaps best described by the people who knew him: thoughtful, helpful, witty, a great story teller, industrious, smart, an artist, a musician, a true Southern gentleman, a generous host, a great friend, and one of a kind Those of us who knew Dod will miss him greatly E D I T O R I A L In Memoriam George Dod Stewart Jr. 1948-2015 Andrea A Zachary, PhD and Mary S Leffell, PhD Thanks to those who contributed information for this tribute: Linda Brouwer Carrigan, Clara Gorodezky, John Hart, Louise Jacobbi, Kathy Miranda, Nancy Murphy, Ricky Ordonez, Donna Phelan, and Arlene Skinner. George Dod Stewart Jr.