In memoriam of Dr. Ralph L. Sacco

19 Jan 2023

On behalf of the WSO Executive Committee and Senate, I have the sad responsibility to share the news that Dr. Ralph Sacco recently passed away. Ralph was a valued colleague and a personal friend for many years. He was a true giant in the stroke field and also in epidemiology. He made many seminal contributions to both fields and was the author of almost 1000 peer reviewed journal articles. Ralph had many important roles with the WSO including Chair of the Research Committee for 4 years, a member of the Board for 8 years and a member of the Executive Committee for 4 years. In 2016 he received the WSO President's Award for Global Stroke Leadership, in well-deserved recognition of his contribution to the advancement of stroke care internationally.

He is the only person to have served as the President of the American Heart Association and the American Academy of Neurology. He also served as the Chairman of the neurology department at the University of Miami School of Medicine for almost 20 years. He trained and mentored a large number of neurology residents and stroke fellows in that position, as well as growing a department that has become one of the strongest in the United States. His leadership skills were truly exceptional. Most recently he served as the Editor-in Chief of the flagship journal Stroke. Here he enhanced the publication in a number of ways, incIuding significantly increasing diversity of the editorial board, other mast head groups and the senior editorial team. I first met Ralph 40 years ago and had many insightful and informative conversations with him. He was always someone who was easy to interact with, supportive and a truly nice person. I will miss him as will our field and many of our colleagues around the world.

Marc Fisher
WSO Immediate-Past President

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