Eugene E. Bleck, MD
1923 - 2014
Dr. Eugene E. Bleck was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin , the eldest of five children. His childhood and adolescent years were spent in Waukegan, IL, After working at Abbott Laboratories for a year after high school he was inspired to begin pre-medical studies at Marquette University. In September 1941, he enlisted in the US Navy Reserve as an apprentice seaman, spent a short tour of duty as a medical corpsman at the Great Lakes Naval Station and matriculated at Marquette University. The Navy's V-12 program to ensure a supply of doctors for the war kept him in medical school and he graduated in July 1947. After internship in Evanston, IL, he began residency in orthopaedic surgery at Duke University. This was interrupted for 30 months when he volunteered again for the US Navy as a Lieutenant, Junior Grade in the Medical Corps. Active duty began in May 1950 as the Medical Officer for Destroyer Division 91, based in San Diego on the USS Maddox, DD 731. He was awarded a Commendaton Ribbon with Combat in 1950. His active duty continued in the Western Pacific in the Korean War. After sea duty he was sent to the Naval Amputation Center at the US Naval Hospital in Oakland, California where he was an assistant chief of service until 1952. He resumed his residency in orthopaedic surgery at Duke in 1952 as a fellow of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. After completion of his postdoctoral education in 1955 he and his wife, Anne, and two children, John and Mary, moved from Durham, NC to San Mateo, CA where he began private practice. An additional three children, Daniel, Patrick and Jayne were born in San Mateo.
Dr. Bleck left private practice in San Mateo in 1972 and joined the full time faculty of Stanford University as an Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery. At the Children's Hospital at Stanford he was a founder and chief of pediatric orthopaedic surgery. In 1982 he was promoted to Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and was head of the division of orthopaedic surgery until 1988. In 1989, he became professor emeritus. He had 85 publications in refereed journals in clinical subjects and research and five books primarily on cerebral palsy. He was president of the American Orthopaedic Association, the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society, and the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy. He was an honorary member of the Indonesian Orthopaedic Association. He was awarded an honorary degree at the University of Saint Etienne, France in 1985. In 1992 Marquette University named him as medical alumnus of the year. He is preceded in death his son, Dan and his wife, Anne. He is survived by his other children and his grandchildren.
