It is with utter devastation and enormous regret that I have to pass on the sad news that Prof. George Garratty, one of the nicest and most intelligent people I ever had the honour of knowing, passed away on Monday. May he rest in peace.

A sad day for the blood banking world.  I wish his family peace.

You are right Malcolm....a very nice and approachable man; and a huge loss to the Blood Banking community.

Brenda Hutson

Yes, I agree, a huge loss to the Immunohematology and Transfusion Medicine Community.May he rest in peace,

That is really sad news.  The IH Community has really lost one of its 'Greats'

Wow that is sad news. He was extremely knowledgable but was gifted at explaining things to us lesser mortals.

Do we know what caused is death?

I don't know for certain, but I have heard something about an autoimmune disease - but that is only hearsay.

I wish to echo the above sentiments.  I had the opportunity to meet George on a few occasions and thoroughly enjoyed every one.  The giants of the blood bank world of my past are slowly falling and will be missed. I'm grateful for having met most of them at one time or another.

I'm sorry to hear this.  My condolences to his family and friends.

 

Donna

I am so sorry to hear the news. I was fortunate to attend two lectures given by him. He could make the complicated easier to understand and fascinating to hear. My sympathy to his family and his friends.

Truely sad for the world of professional Blood Bankers and his family and friends too.  He was an incredible contributor to the knowledge base and the current state of Immunohematology.

Oh what sad news!  If I saw his name at a conference I would make sure to attend that session, no matter what the topic.  Brilliant and funny man.  He will indeed be missed.

my deepest sympathy to his family. An easily approachable person, he was kind enough to have a drink with me at a Reference Lab conference a very long time ago. A moment I will always remember!

Sad to hear that. He did contribute a lot in the transfusion medicine!

Big loss to Transfusion Medicine Community.

I met this lovely gentleman at the CABB meeting after he had given one of his great presentations on Rh, I talked to him after the presentation was just knocked over by his patience for with my questions.

I also had the pleasure of hearing George Garratty lecture a few times over the years. I mentioned a while ago in another thread that the golden age of exploration in our field is over. Many of the older workers (like myself) have been fortunate enough over the years to hear and meet some of the giants who shaped that discipline. The profession, and the world, is a poorer place for their passing.

He was a wonderful lecturer and made things really easy to understand-  I feel privalaged to have attended one of his talks. 

I have not had any chance to meet Prof. Garratty, but have known his contributions in TM. My condolences to his family & friends. May his soul rest in eternal peace. Amen.

I have never met George Garratty but I have read enough posts here and have seen his articles referenced enough to know the loss. I have co-workers who have been fortunate enough to attend his lectures and they also express their sympathy and know the loss. The information gathered will hopefully be built upon by predecessors in order to continue the discovery in our field, Immunohematology.

I am delighted to say that there is an absolutely fantastic obituary, written by Lawrence Petz, in Transfusion 2014; 54: 1686-1687.

My condolences to his family and friends.

Yes, another 'great mind' has lost it's lights.

He left a great mark on the world.

Thank you, George Garrity.

I just read the obituary, a fitting tribute indeed. I remember way, way back, George being involved in a sort of regional wet exercise (maybe put together by Pzifer, our reagent supplier at the time?). We were sent samples that turned out to react with all reagent cells. Some of us may have noticed a positive DAT. Participants met somewhere near Boston. No one had much of a clue as to what was going on or how to proceed. It turned out to be a warm auto panagglutinin with anti-K lurking underneath, and George went on the explain about the serology and showed us how to do autoadsorptions. Background knowledge about the serology and the technology and techniques is commonplace nowadays, but not then. Skill as an educator was one of his considerable array of talents, and I was fortunate enough to be a beneficiary. Eventually I was making ZZAP, then using the Immucor product WARM, and now PeG, but he started me, and many others, down the road. 

It was my esteem pleasure to have met George Garratty with Peter Issitt at an AABB meeting. He was an outstanding speaker. He will be greatly missed. Praying for his family.