Frederic L. Lizzi, Eng.Sc.D., research director of the biomedical engineering lab at Riverside Research Institute in Manhattan, passed away on January 8, 2005. He was 62. Dr. Lizzi was internationally recognized as a pioneering investigator in advanced medical ultrasound.
Fred was born in Brooklyn, New York, on December 11, 1942. After receiving a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Manhattan College, he studied bioengineering at Columbia University and received a master's degree in science in 1965 and an engineering science doctorate in 1971.
In the early 1970s, Dr. Lizzi led the biomedical engineering group at RRI and later became research director. He was adjunct professor of ophthalmic physics at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University and adjunct professor of applied physics at Columbia University. Fred held numerous patents in medical ultrasound technology, and his work in the safety and therapeutic aspects of high-frequency ultrasound continues today for the eye, prostate, breast and heart.
Besides Fred's professional and scientific achievements, he will also be remembered by all who knew him as a kind, caring, and easygoing person with a quick-witted and warm sense of humor. He loved jazz, literature, philosophy, and art. From a young age he loved air travel, and was fascinated by space exploration and other ingenious, meaningful innovations in science and technology.
Fred is survived by his wife, Mary; his children, Joseph and Marian; and his mother, Anita. He had four sisters, Es, Nita, Marilyn, and Doris.
