In Memoriam (Charles Staley)
Charles J. “Tod” Staley, MD, associate professor emeritus of surgery at the Feinberg School, died February 19 at his Barrington, Illinois, home. He was 85.
A general surgeon with special training in cancer surgery, Dr. Staley joined the medical school in 1954 and was promoted to associate professor in 1965. He retained this rank until 1990, when he was granted emeritus status. The Ohio native earned his MD degree from Ohio State University School of Medicine in 1945, then completed his internship year at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. Dr. Staley joined the U.S. Army in 1946 as a medical officer, serving for two years at Fitzsimmons General Hospital in Denver.
He stayed in Denver for a two-year residency at the Veterans Administration Hospital, then completed an additional two-year residency at Ellis Fischel State Cancer Hospital in Columbia, Missouri.
While on faculty at Northwestern, Dr. Staley retained his ties to the VA, serving as assistant chief of surgery from 1954â62 at the VA Research Hospital in Chicago. In 1960 he joined Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois, as chair of the Department of Surgery. After stepping down as surgery chair in 1978, the specialist in head and neck cancer worked at Lutheran General part time while maintaining a private practice. He retired from practice in the late 1980s.
Dr. Staley is survived by wife Kathy; daughters Pat, Jan, Carol, Marjorie, and Kathy; two stepdaughters; one grandchild; and four step-grandchildren.