Robert Manley Hodges, MD

Dr. Robert Manley Hodges, formerly of Ann Arbor, MI and Winthrop, WA, died after a long illness on November 19, 21011 in Seattle, WA. Born July 13, 1924, in Llandrindod Wells, Wales to Joseph H. and Lala Jane Hodges, Robert was educated in local schools until age 15 when he won a scholarship to Oxford University. Judged by the university to be too young to enter, he spent the next year reading mathematics and physics with a tutor, playing rugby, and training with the Home Guard after the beginning of World War II. He completed one year as a scholar at Hertford College, Oxford University before entering officer training in the royal Signal Corps of the British Army in 1942. He rose to 1st Lieutenant and took the first chance he had to become a paratrooper in the 1st Airborne Division. He participated in and survived the battle of Arnheim and continued in the British occupation forces in Germany until demobilized in 1946. After the war, he returned to Wales and completed his medical degree at the University of Wales, Cardiff, in 1953. He served two years as house surgeon at the Royal Infirmary, Cardiff, before emigrating to Canada. He spent one year as assistant resident in pathology, Ottawa General Hospital, 1956-57 and held the teaching appointment of demonstrator in pathology, University of Ottawa, Canada. Deciding to specialize in obstetrics and gynecology, he completed his residence at Boston City Hospital, Boston, MA, and at King County Hospital in Seattle, WA, 1958-60. He was instructor in obstetrics and gynecology, University of Washington, 1959-61, and clinical associate in OB/GYN, University of Washington, 1961-63. In 1963 he joined the Bureau of Medicine of the Food and Drug Administration in Washington, DC working under Dr. Frances Kelsey and specializing in the development and testing of birth control drugs. He became director of the Office of New Drugs, 1966-68 and associate director, Bureau of Medicine, FDA, 1967-68. All of his experience regulating the development of new drugs led him to an interest in pharmaceutical research which he pursued for the rest of his career. He joined Parke, David Company in Ann Arbor, MI in 1968 as director of the Ann Arbor Research Lab. He became vice president, Research and Development, Parke, Davis Company, 1971-75 and continued as vice president of research and medical affairs when Warner-Lambert took over Parke, Davis until his retirement in 1986. He directed clinical research in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Finland, and Japan with particular success in the development of drugs for heart disease. In retirement he took a diploma course in the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 1987 and worked in Kenya as a medical volunteer in a small maternity hospital on the side of Mt. Kenya. He was able to combine his work with his love of mountain climbing by ascending Mt. Kenya. In 1988 he went on a medical trek in Nepal and later did volunteer work in Indonesia. He saw firsthand the need for medical volunteers. Dr. Hodges is survived by his wife of 54 years, Nan Powell Jones Hodges, and sons, Robert, Jonathan, Daniel, and Edward; and daughters-in-law Ulrike Hodges and Jane Ridley Hodges; eleven grandchildren; and relatives in Canada, Wales, and New Zealand. Announcement: In memory of Dr. Robert M. Hodges, donations may be given to Doctors without Borders, P.O. Box 5022, Hagerstown, MD 21741.