85R7143 JGH-D
By: Davis of Harris H.R. No. 127
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, The life of a distinguished, world-renowned heart
surgeon drew to a close with the death of Dr. Denton Cooley of
Houston on November 18, 2016, at the age of 96; and
WHEREAS, Denton Arthur Cooley was born in Houston on August
22, 1920, to Mary and Ralph Cooley; he graduated from San Jacinto
High School and attended The University of Texas on a basketball
scholarship, competing on the team that won the Southwest
Conference championship in 1939; and
WHEREAS, After earning a degree in zoology in 1941,
Dr. Cooley began his medical training at The University of Texas
Medical Branch at Galveston and completed it at the Johns Hopkins
University School of Medicine in Baltimore, where he graduated with
highest honors in 1944; from 1946 to 1948, he served as a military
doctor in Linz, Austria, before returning to Baltimore; there he
met his future wife, a surgical nurse named Louise Thomas, and they
were married in 1949; the couple shared 67 years together, until her
death in October 2016, just one month before his; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Cooley completed his surgical residency under
Dr. Alfred Blalock, whom he assisted during the first "blue-baby"
operation; he went on to work at the Brompton Hospital in London,
taking part in the first intracardiac operations in England;
Dr. Cooley then returned to Houston, and for 18 years, he served as
a professor of surgery at the Baylor College of Medicine; in 1962,
he founded the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal
Hospital, and he was surgeon-in-chief there for more than four
decades, performing operations until he was 87 years old and
continuing to make rounds until the final year of his life; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Cooley greatly contributed to the development
of groundbreaking heart and cardiovascular surgical techniques,
including a method of reducing the need for blood transfusions
during open-heart surgeries as well as procedures for the repair
and replacement of heart valves and the treatment of cardiac
anomalies in children; in 1968, he performed the first successful
human heart transplant in the United States, and in 1969, he became
the first to implant an artificial heart in a human being; over the
years, he took part in some 120,000 open-heart surgeries; and
WHEREAS, Among his peers, Dr. Cooley was greatly admired for
his speed, dexterity, and grace under pressure; after watching him
operate, the great South African heart surgeon Dr. Christiaan
Barnard wrote, "It was the most beautiful surgery I had ever seen";
Dr. Cooley authored more than 1,400 scientific papers and 12 books,
including 100,000 Hearts: A Surgeon's Memoir, and he was an
influential mentor to countless younger surgeons, some of whom went
on to found the Denton A. Cooley Cardiovascular Surgical Society;
and
WHEREAS, Dr. Cooley was recognized with honorary degrees
from many American and foreign universities and with prestigious
awards from surgical societies around the world; among the
facilities that bear his name are the student fitness center at
Johns Hopkins, the animal hospital at the Houston Zoo, the UT
basketball pavilion and student center, and a building at the UT
School of Dentistry at Houston; moreover, he received the Theodore
Roosevelt Award from the National Collegiate Athletic Association,
the National Medal of Technology from President Bill Clinton, and
the nation's highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom, from
President Ronald Reagan; and
WHEREAS, A man of boundless energy and good humor, Dr. Cooley
delighted in the time he spent with his family at his Cool Acres
Ranch along the Brazos River, his water-ski shack on the San Jacinto
River, and his "CooleyBunkport" beach house in Galveston; he was
the proud father of five daughters, Mary Craddock, Susan Cooley,
Louise Davis, Helen Fraser, and the late Florence Talbot Cooley,
and his life was further enriched by his 16 grandchildren and 16
great-grandchildren; and
WHEREAS, Over the course of a long and extraordinary career,
Denton Cooley dedicated himself to pioneering techniques that have
saved countless lives in operating theaters around the world, and
his passion, commitment, and innovation will continue to inspire
generations of surgeons who will remain forever in his debt; now,
therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 85th Texas
Legislature hereby pay tribute to the memory of Dr. Denton Cooley
and extend sincere sympathy to his family and many friends; and, be
it further
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be
prepared for his family and that when the Texas House of
Representatives adjourns this day, it do so in memory of Dr. Denton
Cooley.