In Memory: David W. Talmage, MD, FAAAAI

The AAAAI was also saddened to learn that David W. Talmage, MD, FAAAAI, who became an AAAAI member in 1957 and went on to serve as AAAAI President from 1965 to 1966, recently passed away. Dr. Talmage died peacefully at his home on March 6, 2014.

Dr. Talmage attended Maryville College for one year and then transferred to Davidson College where he graduated in 1941. He attended Washington University for Medical School during World War II, and he graduated from Washington University in 1944 when the War required an accelerated path for graduation. He also married LaVeryn Talmage in 1944 and stayed devoted to her until her death in 2013.

From 1945 to 1947, Dr. Talmage served as a medical adviser to the Korean government for the United States Army. He served two internships: Georgia Baptist Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia from 1944 to 1945 and Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri in 1948 to 1949. He then served a residency at Barnes Hospital from 1949 to 1950 and a fellowship at Washington University from 1950 to 1951.

Dr. Talmage had a distinguished career at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, the University of Chicago and the University of Pittsburgh. He was a distinguished professor at the University of Colorado from 1986 until he passed away. He also served as the Associate Dean for Research Affairs at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center (UCHSC) from 1983 to 1986. He was the director of the Webb Waring Lung Institute from 1973 to 1983, the Dean of Faculty at UCHSC from 1969 to 1971, Acting Dean of Faculty at UCHSC from 1968 to 1969, and Professor and Chairman of the Microbiology Department at UCHSC from 1963 to 1966. He was a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the UCHSC from 1960 to 1986, and a Professor in the Department of Medicine at UCHSC from 1959 to 1960. He also served as Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago and the University of Pittsburgh.

His professional work earned him much acclaim. Dr. Talmage was elected to the National Academy of Science in 1976 and on the Council of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1974 to 1978. He was president of the American Association of Immunologists in 1978 and President of the American Academy of Allergy, now the AAAAI, in 1965. The AAAAI also named him an Honorary Fellow in 1988. In addition, he was honored to be the editor of the Journal of Allergy from 1963 to 1967.

Dr. Talmage earned many honors for his professional work, including the prestigious Bonfils-Stanton Award in 2003, the Sewall Award from the University of Colorado in 1996 and the Sandoz Immunology Prize in 1995. He was the author of more than 150 articles in scientific journals. Three weeks before his death, he submitted a paper to a physics contest with an essay on physics related to gravity and inertia.