The New York Times
January 13, 2002
Dr. William Fair Dies at 66; an Expert on Prostate Cancer
By DENISE GRADY


Dr. William R. Fair, a leading cancer surgeon whose experience as a cancer
patient led him to become an advocate for the scientific study of
complementary medicine, died on Jan. 3 in Sarasota, Fla. He was 66.

The cause was complications from colon cancer, his family said. He lived in
Longboat Key, Fla., and Amagansett, N.Y.

An expert on prostate cancer and other urologic tumors, Dr. Fair was
chairman of urology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan
from 1984 until 1997. He continued to work there until 2000, and in 2001 he
and his son, William R. Fair III, 38, helped found a complementary medicine
center in Manhattan called Haelth.

In addition to operating on thousands of patients at Memorial Sloan-
Kettering, Dr. Fair was a prodigious researcher, developing new surgical
techniques, treatments and diagnostic tests for prostate cancer.

The chairman of the surgery department at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Dr.
Murray F. Brennan, described Dr. Fair as "a remarkable physician and
surgeon," with international recognition.


In 1995, at what Dr. Fair described as the height of his career, he learned
that he had colon cancer. He had surgery and chemotherapy at Memorial
Sloan-Kettering and quickly resumed his work in the laboratory and
operating room. In 1997 the cancer recurred and he had more surgery, but it
came back yet again a few months later. "And there was little chance of a
cure," he wrote of his own condition.


"My choices were limited - another risky operation, extensive radiation and
experimental chemotherapy," Dr. Fair wrote in a brochure created when the
Haelth complementary medicine center opened. "Knowing these treatments
could be very toxic and debilitating, I set out on my own to investigate
approaches outside conventional medicine that I felt would preserve my
quality of life and perhaps slow the progression of the disease."


Dr. Fair began to practice yoga, exercise, prayer and meditation as well as
making changes in his diet and taking herbal treatments - approaches that
he had once dismissed as "touchy-feely nonsense." He noted that he began to
feel better, and for a time his tumors shrank. "Even if they can't cure,
they can certainly help heal," he wrote of the unconventional therapies he
tried.


Dr. Brennan, who had operated on Dr. Fair, said: "After his recurrence, I
think everyone was surprised at how long he lived. Certainly whatever he
was doing didn't do any harm."

Mr. Fair said he thought that some of his father's medical colleagues
initially were critical of his pursuit of unconventional treatments. But,
Mr. Fair said, his father did not blindly embrace a raft of unproven
remedies. Rather, he took a scientist's approach, urging that various
approaches be tested and held to the same standards as mainstream medicine.

Mr. Fair also said his father was careful to point out that his interest was
in complementary medicine - treatments used in addition to the standard
therapy - as opposed to alternative medicine - treatments offered by some
practitioners in place of the standard.

Mr. Fair said he thought his father's care in making his point did influence
"the people who thought he may have gone off the deep end to say he's not
doing this foolishly or out of desperation, but logically."


Indeed, Dr. Fair looked into new scientific approaches to his disease as
well, cooperating with colleagues who used specimens of his tumor to try to
create a tailor-made vaccine to help him fight the cancer. The experimental
vaccine was produced and frozen, Mr. Fair said, but his father never did get
to use it. Mr. Fair said he was not sure why.


During the last few years, Mr. Fair said, his father communicated by e- mail
with thousands of cancer patients.

"He didn't practice medicine by e- mail," Mr. Fair said, "but he would
suggest questions they should ask. Sometimes he offered just his prayers and
good wishes."

Dr. Fair remained active until a few weeks before his death, his son said,
and in early December attended a meeting of a group he had belonged to, the
White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy.
William R. Fair grew up in Conshohocken, Pa. He was the first in his family
to graduate from college, receiving a bachelor's degree from the
Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science, and a doctor of medicine
degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. He did his internship
at Fort Bragg, in North Carolina, and his residency in urology at Stanford.


Dr. Fair is survived by his wife, Mary Ann, and his son, as well as his
brother, Charles, of Norristown, Pa., and his sister, Margaret Murtha of
Turnersville, N.J.
*****


Short bio on Dr. Fair at: http://www.whccamp.hhs.gov/members/wrf.html
Website for Haelth at http://www.haelth.com
Bill London