Obituary

Dr. Jerome J. DeCosse, a leader in the fight against colorectal cancer, died at his home in New York City, April 25. He was 73.

DeCosse, who continued to work at New York Weill Cornell Medical Center until the time of his death, despite being confined to a wheelchair, had suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease).

A pillar of the Department of Surgery at New York Weill Cornell, DeCosse was also a tireless and well-traveled worker in the battle against cancer, serving on countless professional and national bodies. Generations of medical students and surgeons learned from him. He taught the art and science of surgery, the fundamentals of surgical biology and the basic premises of medical ethics.

The author of more than 250 articles and books, he was among the first to draw attention to the special needs of families in whom colon cancer is a hereditary disease.

His research centered on the understanding of colorectal carcinogenesis, an understanding that has led to more effective cancer prevention and screening. He studied the influence of dietary fiber and, in women, estrogen metabolism as co-variates in tumor induction. His long interest in inherited colorectal cancer produced among the first large registries of patients with familial adenomarous polyposis -- providing important information on the development of colon cancer from polyps and establishing a basis for advances in molecular genetics.

DeCosse was born in Valley City, N.D. He graduated from the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., and took his M.D. from the University of Minnesota Medical School in 1952. In 1969, he earned a Ph.D. in anatomy from the State University of New York Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse.

After serving as an intern and assistant resident in surgery at Roosevelt Hospital in New York, he was a Henry Yates Fellow in Experimental Surgery at the Sloan-Kettering Institute and then a resident in surgery at Roosevelt and Memorial hospitals. He was, from 1971 to 1978, professor and chairman of the division of surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Since 1978, he has been connected with New York Weill Cornell as professor of surgery and vice chairman of the department of surgery. From 1978 to 1985, he also was chairman of the department of surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. In 1995 he was named the Lewis Thomas University Professor at Weill Cornell.

Contributions to an endowed professorship in DeCosse's name may be sent to the Development Department, Weill Cornell Medical College, 525 E. 68th St., New York, N.Y. 10021.