Clear Thinker Tom Kirkendall calls attention to this story by the Chronicle‘s Todd Ackerman, on the rapprochement of two Houston and medical giants:
It’s considered one of medicine’s best-known feuds: two brilliant and egotistical doctors on the frontiers of cardiovascular surgery, whose falling-out divided a community and became the stuff of legend.
Immortalized in a Life magazine cover story, the rift persisted for decades. Although the competition spurred them to achievements that transformed the Texas Medical Center into the world’s heart treatment center, the former collaborators avoided each other and barely spoke.
But recently, Michael DeBakey and Denton Cooley buried the hatchet.
“I’m glad the rivalry may have passed by,” Cooley said on Oct. 27, presenting DeBakey with a lifetime achievement award at a meeting of Cooley’s Cardiovascular Surgical Society. “I hope this is not just a temporary truce or cease-fire (but) … a permanent treaty between us.”
DeBakey, 99, responded that he was glad to be there for two reasons: “One is, I’m alive. And the other, of course, is to get this award. Denton, I am really touched by it.”
DeBakey downplayed the idea of a rivalry — he called it “the concoction of a journalist” — and said he has the highest respect for Cooley and what he has done. He said he would “treasure” the award and find a place for it in his library.
At the ceremony’s end, he motioned for Cooley to come closer to him for the photos.
DeBakey and Cooley helped to build the Texas Medical Center into one of the best medical complexes in the world. Ackerman’s account of their reconciliation is a fine read.
