Memorial Celebration and Festschrift for Doctor G. Tom Shires

Colleagues, family, and friends of the remarkable G. Tom Shires, MD, gathered in New York City on October 25, 2008, to celebrate his life and accomplishments, recounted in these pages and many others shortly after his death in 2007 [1]. The venue was appropriate, in that Shires had not only been Lewis Atterbury Stimson Professor and Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Cornell for 16 years, but also Dean and Provost for Medical Affairs of Cornell University Medical College (as it was called at the time) for four years coincident.

The morning session, a celebration of the personal and professional lives of Tom Shires, was keynoted by Frank H. T. Rhoads, PhD, President Emeritus of Cornell University, and G. Tom Shires, III, MD, Chief of Surgery at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, TX, and a Cornell Surgery faculty member for three years while his father was Chairman. The session was a formal part of the annual Alumni Reunion Day of the Medical College, for which thanks go to Roger W. Yurt, MD, a resident and close faculty colleague of Shires' who was at the time President of the Center Alumni Council of Weill Cornell Medical College and New York–Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. Uris Auditorium was packed, and then some.

After a luncheon across York Avenue in the brand new Weill Greenberg Building of Cornell, for which thanks are due to the several Shires-era Cornell Surgery alumni who donated to the event, attendees reconvened in Uris for the formal Festschrift presentations published in this volume. Thanks are due also to Antonio M. Gotto, MD, DPhil, The Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean and Provost for Medical Affairs of Weill Cornell Medical College, and Fabrizio Michelassi, MD, current Lewis Atterbury Stimson Professor and Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College, for their substantial, committed support. Presentations were invited from Parkland- and Seattle-era residents and faculty, and competition was keen for the limited space on the afternoon schedule. The science was wonderful, and so too was the opportunity to marvel at the accomplishments of the Shires trainees and faculty in attendance.

Afterward, cocktails and dinner were enjoyed in the Griffis Faculty Club. As one might imagine, as the libations flowed, so too did the stories, far too numerous (and some best left behind closed doors!) to recount here. We weren't anywhere near being out of stories to tell when the evening came to a close, to the joy and sadness of all.

The printed page can never recount the events of the day, but it is hoped that the reader will get some sense of the marvel that was this day from this publication.