Donald Moore Palatucci, MD (1940–2002)

⇓Don Palatucci, a leading clinical neurologist and our esteemed colleague who made many contributions to the practice and teaching of neurology, died on November 8, 2002.

In early November 2002, Don and his wife, Blanid, and my wife and I were having dinner at the Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan, for old time’s sake he said. Don was quite ill but still able to push some food around on his plate and with great effort managed to down his entire martini, though it took more than an hour. As always, he was very talkative and had many stories to tell—he was delighted with how well his children were doing, still head over heels in love with Blanid, and proud of her courage in the face of daunting problems, and, as was his style, never spoke for a moment about his illness. He died peacefully at home in San Francisco 1 week later.

Don was a New Yorker—loved San Francisco after 30 years—but a New Yorker at heart. He was born and raised in Pelham, went to parochial high school in Manhattan, and, as a teenager, spent many days shadowing his internist father in the office and on hospital rounds in the Bronx. Early on Don decided on a career in medicine, and he aspired to be as complete and …