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Married for 53 years to Buffalo native, Gail Ryan Anguish (1971) this coming 21 August 24; BS with honors in Cognitive Psychology, SUNYAB (1971); MS, PhD in Psychology & Neuroscience, Florida State University (1974, 1978); Predoctoral Fellowship in Neuroanatomy & Neurosurgery (spinal), University of Texas Medical Branch (1977); Postdoctoral Fellowship in Neurological Research, Yale University School of Medicine (1978-80), MD (1980, never entered practice); training for a career in neurosurgery was terminated by injuries suffered in a 'road rage' automobile assault (1988), Research Assistant Professor, Associate Professor & Professor, Yale (1980-92) w/Disability Retirement, (1992); Board of Development, Professor & Mack & Effie Campbell Tyner Eminent Scholar in the College of Medicine, Florida State University, (1999-2011); Founder, The Phoenix Fund for the Neurologically Challenged (1992-present), Guilford CT & Tallahassee FL.
Spent the early days of my career investigating epilepsy at Yale and was the first to identify the type of brain cells that become 'sick' first in an epileptic seizure, making these abnormalities amenable to a better understanding of their onset, spread and control within the brain. This work led to the development of new anti-convulsant drugs in the 1990s (the gabapentinoids) and invitations to nominate for the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. Following recovery from the assault, I returned to academia seven years later as a founding member of Florida State University's School of Medicine & faculty member ... semi-retiring in 2011. Since then, I have been an Adjunct Professor at both schools, being 'on call' for invited lectures on either pain or epilepsy, or the history of either.
Our private foundation has made significant contributions for the past 33 years to scholarships and fellowships for undergraduate and graduate students at Florida State University, University of Florida and Batavia High School, underwritten The Jennifer Harrison Computer Center at Camp Sunshine for Catastrophically Ill Children (Casco, ME), The Children's Miracle Network/Shands Children's Hospital (Gainesville, FL), The Fellowship for Christian Athletes, The Wounded Warriors Foundation (a co-founder of their ‘Adopt a Wounded Warrior Family Program’ in Florida), myriad community outreach programs, and direct financial support for individuals with neurologic or other health-related impairments.
My wife, Gail, spent her entire career as a tissue-culturist & electronmicroscopist studying glaucoma at Yale, helping to develop the pressure-lowering drug, Timoptic, and the YAG-laser. We have had two adopted children, Kimberly, a special needs three-year old who left us when she was seven and Vada, a highly decorated, severely injured ‘Wounded Warrior’ Army Ranger of 27 years. We now have a twelve-year old goddaughter, Zada A'LYN King, (named after himself), an Akita (Bentley) and a ChowChow (Leeloo), and have lived in the same residences both in Guilford CT for 43 years and Tallahassee FL for the past 32 years (snowbirds). Rebuilt (2015) the latter home following catastrophic water damage, which occurred while we were in Connecticut, and which prevented our attendance at the 50th reunion. We enjoy going into NYC, when we can, where we indulge our interests in art collection, opera and Broadway. As an avid golfer (GHIN 4.7), I carry a bag weighted to 25 lbs. as part of my physical (and mental) health regimen. We entered our goddaughter into Holy Comforter Episcopal School in Tallahassee when she qualified for pK3 (now in 6th grade) and have helped provide the means for the daughter of one our classmates to maximize her recovery from a truly miraculous medical conundrum.
