George Richard Blumenschein MD

George Richard Blumenschein, M.D. died at home after a long illness with Parkinson’s disease on August 30, 2016, at the age of 79. A pioneer and major figure in the field of oncology, he was renowned for his work on developing the modern approach to treating breast cancer.

George was born June 8, 1937, in Chicago, IL to Carl and Rose Blumenschein. An accomplished student, George graduated from York High School, Elmhurst, IL in 1955, where he was President of the Student Body and a member of the Illinois State High School Championship Mile Relay Team.

He matriculated to Yale University earning his B.A. in 1959. Following Yale, he attended Cornell Medical College, in New York City where he met his future wife Sarah Deitrick, graduating in 1963. Thereafter, he completed an internship in Internal Medicine at Bellevue Hospital, NYC. He then served his country in the Navy as a public health physician spending the next two years at the Centers for Disease Control working in John Enders Lab in Boston before joining John Maloney’s lab at the NCI working on the Maloney sarcoma virus. His experience at the CDC and NCI cemented his decision to go into cancer research. He finished his internal medicine residency and fellowship in Hematology at Duke University.

In 1969, he joined the faculty at Northwestern University, Chicago where he established their oncology program.

Presented with an exciting opportunity in 1973, he moved with his young family to join the faculty of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas as an Assistant Professor in the department of developmental therapeutics and as Assistant Director of Education. He became the Chief of the Medical Breast Service a year later. During the course of his career at MDA he took a small department and developed it into a world renowned center of excellence treating patients from all over the globe. He and his team pioneered the discovery of new therapies for the treatment of breast cancer including the introduction of the use of anthracyclines to treat this disease. His development of the FAC (Fluorouracil, Adriamycin, and Cytoxan) regimen and introduction of multimodality therapy were some of the many innovations that dramatically improved the survival rates of patients with breast cancer.

He left MD Anderson Cancer Center in 1986 and joined the Arlington Cancer Center, Arlington, TX as a partner with several of his former associates from MD Anderson. It was during this time that he served on the board of the Komen Foundation which was started by his patient Nancy Brinker.

After retiring from full-time medical practice, he published a book in 2014 detailing the history of his life’s work entitled, Quest for the Cure: Reflections on the Evolution of Breast Cancer Treatment.

He loved skiing, squash, fly fishing, hunting, and wood working, and imparted his enthusiasm to his children. He was a fan of James Bond films. He was dedicated to him many patients and they in turn were devoted to him. He was often described by associates and patients as a charismatic “white knight” in his approach to patient care.

George is survived by his wife of 53 years, Sarah, daughter Carol Gardey (Oliver), sons George (Evette) and Chuck (Kristie), grandchildren, Constantin, Cosima and Conrad Gardey, Mallory and Sydney Blumenschein, Carl III, Katherine and Sarah Blumenschein. He was predeceased by daughter, Sarah, 8 years and brother-in-law John E. Deitrick, Jr, M.D. He is also survived by his beloved sister, Carol George, nieces Renee McColl and Melissa Iserloth and nephew, Raymond George. He is also survived by brother-in-law William E. Deitrick, Esq (Emily), niece Elizabeth Trafelet, nephews William Deitrick and Peter Deitrick, niece Kristina Sterling and nephew John Deitrick.

Burial will be a private family affair with a memorial to follow in the fall, location to be announced.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be given in his name to the charity of your choice.