Obituary of Fairfield Goodale

Fairfield Goodale, MD, Medical Educator Fairfield Goodale, MD, former dean of the Medical College of Georgia and of Bowman Gray School of Medicine, died on Sunday, December 27, at his home in Duxbury, MA. He was ninety-two. Dr. Goodale was educated at Milton Academy, Harvard College, and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He served in the United States Army Air Force, flying fifty combat missions in P-51 Mustang fighters over France and Germany during World War II. His experience during the liberation of Buchenwald concentration camp in 1945 greatly influenced his decision to become a physician. Born in Framingham, MA on May 4, 1923, Dr. Goodale pursued a career in academic medicine with teaching positions at Dartmouth College, Albany Medical College, the Medical College of Virginia, the Medical College of Georgia, and Bowman Gray School of Medicine. After training as a pathologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Goodale spent two years in medical research with Sir George Pickering in London and Oxford. He later wrote over one hundred research papers, largely focused on the relationship between dietary fat and subsequent development of atherosclerosis. Dr. Goodale served as the Chairman of Pathology at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond from 1963 until 1976. He went on to serve as Dean of the Medical College of Georgia and Dean of Bowman Gray School of Medicine. Dr. Goodale, in concert with colleagues, pioneered a patient-oriented, problem-based model for medical education. Dr. Goodale belonged to numerous professional organizations and was active in medical politics, serving as an officer in the American Medical Association’s Section on Medical Schools and on the Association of American Medical College’s (AAMC) Executive Committee of Council of Deans. He was elected a Distinguished Service Member of the AAMC in 1986. For many years, Dr. Goodale was listed in Who’s Who in America, which profiles men and women who influence the nation’s development. Once Dr. Goodale retired from academic medicine in 1986, he and his wife Mary Margaret (Lyman), lived in a variety of amazing places: a saltwater farm in Brooklin, ME, where he served as President of the Blue Hill Hospital’s Board of Directors; a hilltop ranch in Santa Ynez, CA, where he and MM enjoyed golfing at the Alisal; a water-front bungalow in South Carolina where they frequently walked with friends on the beach at Sullivan’s Island. Recently, Dr. Goodale settled in Duxbury, MA, to be near his extended family. Active in each community in which he resided, Dr. Goodale enthusiastically volunteered his time to many local organizations. Dr. Goodale was a curious intellect, a voracious reader and collector of books, an avid poker player, and a notorious prankster. He was predeceased by his eldest son Fairfield III (“Tad”) of Brooklin, ME, and his brother Robert Perkins Goodale of Liberty, ME. He is survived by his wife of seventy years, Mary Margaret ; his brother Alfred Montgomery (“Gom”); his four children, Anna, John, Susan, and Timothy, and their respective spouses, Harvey (Peterson), Martha, Chris (Brown), Kathy, and Tad’s wife Lindsay; his fifteen grandchildren; and five great grandchildren. Dr. Goodale asked that his remains be donated for research to Harvard Medical School. A memorial service will be held this spring at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Saco, ME.