Harry Robert Brashear Jr., MD 1921-2010Harry Robert Brashear Jr., MD, died peacefully at Carol Woods Retirement Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on March 28, 2010, after a short illness.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, on November 12, 1921, Bob moved with his parents to Los Angeles, graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and earned his MD degree from the University of California, San Francisco. After an internship at Georgetown University Hospital, he served two years as a medical officer in the United States Army, stationed at Pratt General Hospital, Coral Gables, Florida and at Fort Myers, Virginia. He completed an orthopaedic residency and fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania before moving to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1953 to join the Division of Orthopaedics, which had been established the year before with the completion of the North Carolina Memorial Hospital. Bob progressed rapidly through the academic ranks, becoming a full professor in 1967.
During his professional life, Dr. Brashear served as Chairman of the Orthopaedic Section of the Southern Medical Association, Associate Editor and member of the Board of Trustees of The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, President of the North Carolina Orthopaedic Association, member of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery, member of the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, and Vice President of the American Orthopaedic Association.
Dr. Brashear was a master teacher. During his tenure at the University of North Carolina, he taught every student and orthopaedic resident who came through the institution since 1952, winning along the way numerous teaching and service awards. The students routinely voted him the best teacher in the second-year musculoskeletal course, which he taught for thirty-seven years. In 1982, he was elected by the students to membership in Alpha Omega Alpha, and on his retirement, orthopaedic alumni and colleagues established the H. Robert Brashear Alumni Teaching Professorship. He "retired" in 1988, which simply enabled him to expand his teaching responsibilities in the Departments of Anatomy and Pathology.
Dr. Brashear's research interests, both experimental and clinical, were centered on physeal injuries, fractures, tumors, and osteonecrosis. He coauthored with R. Beverly Raney, MD, the last four (of ten) editions of Shands' Handbook of Orthopaedic Surgery and wrote numerous other book chapters and papers.
A man's humanity is harder to measure than his scholarship, but Bob was much more than a scholar and a colleague. He was a true friend. Most good friends are honest, giving, and good listeners. These traits found high expression in Bob Brashear; he was a creative listener, his judgments were not formulated out of self-interest, and, while never failing to respond to the needs of others, he asked little in return. Friendship was something he gave, rather than something he got or expected. It was an end rather than a means.
Most of us climb about in life's tree looking for a limb on which we can find fulfillment. Believing that higher is better, many keep climbing, only to find that the top of the tree was an illusion, with another limb ever above the last. Bob was wise enough to find a branch where the natural dignity of his work, his instinctive kindness, his insight into life, and his hold on science carried him over the top of the tree, circle above circle, beyond the reach of words.
Bob is survived by his warm and devoted family: Gay, his wife of sixty-two years; five children; and seven grandchildren. Their togetherness stands as a paradigm of family life.
The family has requested that memorial donations be directed, in lieu of flowers, to: the Carol Woods Charitable Fund, Carol Woods Retirement Community, 750 Weaver Dairy Road, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514; to the Orthopaedic Research Fund, Medical Foundation of North Carolina, Office of University Development, 208 West Franklin Street, Campus Box 6100, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-6100; or to the charity of your choice.
—Frank C. Wilson, MD