IN MEMORIAM
KENNETH B. OLSON, MD
1908-1996
The purpose of human life is to serve and to show compassion and the
will to help others.
- Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965)
On April 20, 1996, medical oncology lost one of its pioneers and leaders. Kenneth
Barrie Olson was born in Seattle in 1908. Educated at the University of Washington and a
1933 graduate of Harvard Medical School, he spent a year in pathology at the Mallory
Institute and then began a surgical residency at Columbia Presbyterian in New York. This
career path was abruptly interrupted by tuberculosis. After a long cure and positions in
various sanatoria, he began his work at Albany Medical College in 1950.
At Albany, his care of patients with advanced cancer who were receiving investigational
treatments led him to test and implement methods to prevent or manage many of the problems
they faced. Thus, the seeds of the specialty of medical oncology were planted.
With administrative support from Richard T. Beebe, MD, Dr Olson attracted a large
practice of patients and their families who became the subjects of intensive clinical
research. Under his guidance, the Albany oncology program gained a well-deserved
reputation of reporting only sound, reproducible studies. This attests to his unwavering
ethical honesty and ideals. An early member of the Cooperative Breast Study Group and
ECOG, he gained international eminence in medical oncology, served on many NCI committees,
and was elected president of ASCO in 1970.
Education was a related passion. Students and physicians everywhere benefited from his
teaching and counsel, although few relished receiving sigmoidoscopy during their physical
diagnosis rotations! As an innovator and a tireless leader in cancer education, he hosted
the first meeting of the American Association for Cancer Education in Saratoga Springs,
New York, and remained active in that organization.
Dr Olson mentored many clinicians and investigators. I am deeply indebted to him for
his advice, counsel and wisdom as well as his example in overcoming adversities to promote
his overriding aim - to foster and enhance the well-being of cancer patients in any way he
could. He remained active after he moved to Florida in 1973 and was instrumental in the
development of the Florida Society of Clinical Oncology, the Florida Cancer Data System,
and the Florida Cancer Control & Research Advisory Council.
Dr Olson's modest and self-effacing presence will be sorely missed, but his many
achievements and influences will continue unabated. He is survived by his sister Janet
Roberts of Seattle, his daughter Karen Mason of New Orleans, and his son Kenneth B. Olson,
Jr, of Albany.
John Horton, MB, ChB
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Cancer Control Journal Volume 3 Number 3