Jean Timothee Emile FOUCHER 1823–1867

Who’s Who in Orthopedics pedic program with Roosevelt Hospital, which

was integrated in 1987 after the two institutions merged.

Bill was an energetic, highly motivated surgeon and educator with excellent clinical and operative skills. His enthusiasm for orthopedic surgery was passed on to many of the residents whom he trained, who were often in awe of his accom- plishments and his unique personality. He pro- duced 14 sound-slide programs and 15 medical motion pictures and videotapes and was credited with 162 scientific publications, 60 of which appeared in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. In addition, he contributed chapters to 35 textbooks. Well known as an international lecturer and teacher, he was invited to serve as a visiting professor at many academic institutions and societies in America and throughout the world.

Although his interests encompassed many areas of the musculoskeletal system, his major contri- butions were related to his work on the cervical and lumbar spine.

Despite his remarkably busy career, Bill found time to study the origins of ancient civilizations.

He visited many sites around the Mediterranean and in Central and South America and assembled an outstanding collection of photographic slides that were of archaeological and anthropological interest. He presented these slides at many ortho- pedic meetings and was always ready to given an interesting dissertation on the structural remains of ancient cities, tombs, and meeting sites, during which he would point out evidence of muscu- loskeletal diseases and how they were treated in early times.

Bill participated in numerous instructional courses and used innovative photographic tech- niques that delighted audiences. No one dozed during a Fielding slide show, and those who were present at his Presidential Address in Anaheim, California, will not forget the multiple slide pro- jectors that were positioned and synchronized around the perimeter of the auditorium. The pres- entation received a standing ovation.

Joseph William Fielding died on March 18, 1998. He was survived by his wife, Doris; four children, Pamela, Bruce, Debra, and Victoria.

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Jean Timothee Emile FOUCHER

1823–1867

Jean Timothee Emile Foucher was born in Saint-

Mars, where his father conducted a small private

school. It was his father’s wish that his son would

follow his example and become a teacher also,

and it was over considerable opposition that

Foucher broke away to attend medical school in

Paris in 1844. He gradually rose through the ranks

of the medical system in Paris as a protégé of

Velpeau, becoming chief of the surgical service

at Bicetre in 1863. His interests were broad. He

conducted animal experiments using various

anesthetic agents, tested a number of antiseptics,

translated and annotated an English work on oph-

thalmology, and wrote about the surgical anatomy

and pathology of diseases and injuries of the

extremities. His work on epiphyseal injuries falls

into this last category. In order to appreciate his

accomplishment, his short career must be viewed

against the background of the turbulent times in

which he worked. Foucher’s premature demise as

the result of a ruptured aneurysm of the thoracic

aorta, probably syphilitic in nature, was typical of

the era.