Obituaries

A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. April 23 in the chapel at Forest Lawn for Glen E. Gresham, retired chair of the Department of Rehabilitation in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Gresham died Feb. 24 in Fort Myers, Fla., after a lengthy struggle with pancreatic cancer. He was 84.

Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Gresham was a cum laude graduate of Harvard University and earned his medical degree from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1958.

He completed his residency and fellowship training in Cleveland and served for two years in the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the Centers for Disease Control, working on polio eradication and field trials of the new measles vaccine.

Gresham began his academic career at Case Western Reserve University and Ohio State University. In 1969, he became an assistant professor at the Yale University School of Medicine, then moved to Tufts University in 1970.

While serving as an associate professor of medicine at Tufts, he was director of outpatient and continuing care services at the Rehab Institute at New England Medical Center. He was a leader in stroke research in the Framingham Heart Study and served on federal task forces on stroke rehabilitation.

Gresham came to UB in 1978 and retired in 1998. A visiting professorship and lecture in rehabilitation science has been endowed at UB in his honor. A dean’s award also is given in his name. In addition, he held an appointment as an adjunct professor at UB’s School of Nursing, and established the Glen E. and Phyllis K. Gresham Endowment at the nursing school.

From 1990-92 Gresham also served as medical director at Erie County Medical Center, where he developed the hospital’s first spinal cord injury unit, served as its director and set up programs for treatment of post-polio syndrome and traumatic brain injuries.

He also was a consultant in physical medicine and rehabilitation at Buffalo General Medical Center, Roswell Park Cancer Institute and the Veterans Affairs Medical Centers in Buffalo and Batavia.

Gresham was a founding fellow of the American Rheumatism Association, an honorary member of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and a fellow of the American College of Physicians. He authored numerous books and journal articles, and lectured widely throughout the U.S. and Canada.

He received numerous awards, including the Walter P. Cooke Award from the UB Alumni Association.