Montreal Gazette - ‘Visionary leader’ in neuroscience, award-winning researcher and director
Montreal's medical research community was stunned Wednesday by the sudden and unexpected death of Dr. David R. Colman, an award-winning researcher and director of the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital of Ï㽶ÊÓƵ. Colman, 62, had been in the Montreal General Hospital for treatment of a non-life threatening adverse reaction to medication when he died of cardiac arrest.
In a joint statement, McGill principal Heather Munroe-Blum and Arthur Porter, director general and chief executive officer of the Ï㽶ÊÓƵ Health Centre, said they were "shocked and saddened by this devastating news."
"Dr. Colman was deeply committed to Wilder Penfield's (the institute's first director) original vision of an integrated research and clinical institution," they said. "He drew people in, captivating them with the promise of a new neuroscience."
Born in New York City, Colman was recruited as a world-renowned scientist in September 2002 from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City to take over the Neuro as executive director.
Colman is survived by his wife Elizabeth and daughters Monica and Miranda. Plans for a memorial service have not been completed.