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Show In Memoriam William Fletcher Hoyt, MD (1926-2019) W illiam Fletcher Hoyt, MD, died on March 20, 2019, at the age of 92, leaving an enormous legacy to the field of neuro-ophthalmology. Indeed, he changed the face of neuroophthalmology, not only in the United States, but also throughout the world through his writings, travels, and the training of hundreds of residents and fellows. Bill Hoyt likened his career to being the harpist in an orchestra; this was is metaphor for the highly specialized nature of neuro-ophthalmology. Dr. Hoyt graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and received his medical education at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Medical School. His father, Werner Hoyt, was a physician, and Bill decided to follow his example. He chose ophthalmology because it combined surgical practice with intellectual challenge. He stayed at UCSF for his ophthalmology residency training and then received a Fulbright Fellowship at the University of Vienna. After this fellowship, he spent 6 months as a fellow with Dr. Frank B. Walsh, who is often considered the father of American neuroophthalmology. Dr. Hoyt had met Dr. Walsh several years earlier when Dr. Walsh came to lecture at UCSF while Bill was a resident. After this fellowship, Bill returned to UCSF, where he was given joint appointments in the Departments of Ophthalmology and Neurosurgery. At the time Bill came to Wilmer as a fellow, Dr. Walsh had completed the second edition of his single-volume textbook Clinical Neuro-Ophthalmology. When Dr. Walsh subsequently was asked to write another edition, he realized that he could not do it alone and that, as he told me, Bill was the perfect person to coauthor it. Accordingly, the 2 worked together to write the three-volume third edition that became, for many years, the standard textbook in neuro-ophthalmology. This definitive work revolutionized the field and Bill's career. This incredible reference text combined basic neuroanatomy and neurophysiology with clinical descriptions of numerous local and systemic 424 neuro-ophthalmic disorders and immediately attracted both neurologists and ophthalmologists (and a few neurosurgeons!) who wanted to study with him. He eventually trained numerous fellows, residents, and medical students, many of whom went on to become leaders in the field of neuro-ophthalmology. Bill was incredibly kind and generous to the students and residents who came to learn from him, but he was extremely demanding of his fellows, since he saw them as his extension and that of neuro-ophthalmology to the rest of the world. He was quick to criticize his fellows when they failed to live up to his standards, and he rarely complimented them when they succeeded. His approach could be summed up by the interchange he had with one of his fellows the day I first met him. Bill and the fellows were discussing the use of vitamin B12 for the treatment of nutritional optic neuropathy, and the fellow was asked what he had looked up the night before about the potential differences in benefits of treatment of the condition with hydroxycobalamin vs cyanocobalamin. The fellow's response was "I didn't have time to look up the information," to which Bill replied, looking him right in the face "Did you have time to sleep?" Joel Glaser once commented that a Fellow with Bill Hoyt "had to put his ego in his hip pocket for the year." Nevertheless, Bill told me on several occasions how proud he was of the accomplishments of his fellows and how pleased he was that he had participated in their training. In addition to the third edition of Clinical Neuro-Ophthalmology, Bill authored or co-authored 274 articles in peerreviewed journals. He was just as demanding when writing articles with his fellows as he was in all other aspects of his teaching. We used to say that he was never happy until he had chewed up and spit out every single word in the article. In particular, Bill liked to go-as he put it-on a "which" hunt, that is, replacing the word "which" with the word "that" throughout the article. Needless to say, the articles always were much better after his intervention than before it. In September of 1986, Jack Selhorst and I, both previous fellows of Bill, were guest speakers at a meeting in Madison, Wisconsin. We began discussing what would be an appropriate tribute to Bill on his approaching 60th birthday. I favored something mundane, like a Waterford vase, but Jack had loftier ideas and recommended that we try to establish an endowed chair in his name. I agreed that it was a great idea, and although it took 10 years for us to raise the funds, the William F. Hoyt Endowed Chair in Neuro-Ophthalmology was established at UCSF in 1996, with the first (and, to date, the only) recipient being Dr. Jonathan Horton. An annual lectureship in Bill's name subsequently was established by the North American Neuro-ophthalmology Society in 2001. Miller: J Neuro-Ophthalmol 2019; 39: 424-425 Copyright © North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited. In Memoriam One of Bill's previous fellows, Dr. Barrett Katz, quoted Shakespeare's Henry VIII when introducing Bill at the 1994 American Academy of Ophthalmology Meeting: "A scholar, and a ripe and good one; Exceeding wise, fair spoken, and persuading: Lofty and sour to them that lov'd him not; But to those men that sought him sweet as summer." To this, I would add the following phrase from a song entitled "The Leader of the Band" by Dan Fogelberg; I believe that this applies to all of us who were fortunate enough to spend time with Bill: "My life has been a poor attempt to imitate the man. Miller: J Neuro-Ophthalmol 2019; 39: 424-425 I am the living legacy of the leader of the band." Bill Hoyt is survived by his son, Kristian F. Hoyt; his daughter, Erika Milano; and his former wife, Johanna Hoyt. A memorial service will be held at UCSF on Thursday, October 10. The site and time of the service has yet to be determined. In lieu of flowers, the family wishes gifts be sent to That Man May See, Inc, 10 Koret Way, Box 0352, San Francisco, CA 94143. Neil R. Miller, MD, FACS Johns Hopkins Hospital, Wilmer Eye Institute, Baltimore, Maryland E-mail: nrmiller@jhmi.edu 425 Copyright © North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited. |
