Dr. William R. Fair
Dr. William R. Fair, professor emeritus of urology, died on Jan. 3 in Sarasota, Fla., from complications with colon cancer. He was 66.
Dr. Fair, who was member emeritus at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, was also the former Florence and Theodore Baumritter/Enid Ancell Chair of urology, chief of the urology service, and director of the Bendheim Prostate Diagnostic Center at MSKCC. He served as chair of urology at MSKCC for 13 years (1984–1997), and continued to work there until 2000.
Dr. Fair was an expert on prostate cancer and other urologic tumors. He remained active until a few weeks before his death, including his attendance at a meeting with the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy, a group to which he belonged. Dr. Fair was the editor-in-chief of Molecular Urology; the associate editor of Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine; and on the editorial boards of other well-known journals. He also chaired the Committee on Complementary and Alternative Medicine of the American Urologic Association.
Dr. Fair developed new surgical techniques, treatments and diagnostic tests for prostate cancer. He also published extensively in the areas of urology and oncology. Dr. Fair received his B.S. from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science and his M.D. from Jefferson Medical College.
Dr. Fair, who lived in Longboat Key, Fla., and Amagansett, N.Y., is survived by his wife, Mary Ann, and his son, William R. Fair III.