Randy Lee Hanzlick

Randy Lee Hanzlick, M.D., a board-certified forensic pathologist, Emeritus Professor Forensic of Pathology at Emory University School of Medicine, and retired Chief Medical Examiner for Fulton County, Georgia, passed away October 25, 2021 from pancreatic cancer. Born January 22, 1952, in Salem, Ohio, he graduated from Salem High School in 1970, and in 2014 was recognized as the Salem High School Honored Alumnus of the year. Dr. Hanzlick received his B.S. and M.D. degrees in six years from The Ohio State University. He also completed his anatomic pathology residency at Ohio State and his Forensic training through Emory University. He was board certified in both Anatomic and Forensic Pathology. He was a Past President of the National Association of Medical Examiners and former Pathology/Biology Section Officer for the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. Dr. Hanzlick was active on numerous committees of professional organizations and multiple federal panels and projects related to death investigation and death certification, such as the CDC Guidelines for Investigation of Sudden, Unexplained Infant Death, and the NIJ Guide for Death Scene Investigators. Dr. Hanzlick was the author of Death Investigation Systems and Procedures and the co-author of three editions of Forensic Pathology in Criminal Cases. He was also the author/co-author of several manuals, multiple chapters in textbooks, and over two hundred professional journal publications. Dr. Hanzlick’s areas of interest included the development of professional guidelines, improvement in death investigation practices, death certification and mortality data, electronic data system development, and research. He was a primary developer of the original NamUs System for unidentified deceased individuals. He received multiple awards, including The National Association of Medical Examiners’ Lifetime Service Award, the Milton Helpern Laureate Award, and the American Academy of Forensic Sciences Distinguished Fellow Award.

In 2016, Dr. Hanzlick was appointed as a Commissioner on the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Commission on Forensic Science. For decades, Dr. Hanzlick served as the program director of the forensic pathology fellowship at the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office and trained many forensic pathologists. Most of them are still practicing in medical examiner offices and pathology departments in the United States and Canada. Just before his death, the National Association of Medical Examiners established the Randy Hanzlick Persistence Award to be given to a forensic pathologist under fifty who has worked to advance and improve forensic pathology and death investigation. Dr. Hanzlick was also an accomplished musician and songwriter who garnered some notoriety for his music. In addition, he was a talented carpenter and inventor of multiple implements he called “Hanz-O-Matics.” Finally, he was a tremendous fan of the Ohio State Buckeyes, dressing in Ohio State apparel for all their football games and cheering them on from his home.

A quote from one of the hundreds of speeches he gave through the years and two lines from one of his songs sum up his life: “Take some risks. Try to make things better. In trying, you will find your reward.” and “While you’re still a mortal, make love what you achieve; time will fade your epitaph but not the love you leave.”

Donations can be made in Randy’s honor to the National Association of Medical Examiners Foundation, 1544 Chinnereth Est., Savannah, Missouri 64485.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.caughmanchapin.com for the Hanzlick family.