William Hutchinson Dies -- Doctor Founded Research Center In Seattle, Named It After Brother

Dr. William Hutchinson, a hard-driving Seattle surgeon, had a knack for organizing.

Touched by the cancer patients he treated, he started the Pacific Northwest Research Center in 1955.

Then in 1975 he did it again, only this time on a grander scale, when he founded the world-renowned Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, a memorial to his brother Fred, a Major League baseball pitcher and manager who died of lung cancer in 1964.

Dr. Hutchinson died Sunday. He was 88.

Officials of the Hutchinson Center said he died of natural causes. He had suffered several strokes and congestive heart failure in recent months.

"He was a superb surgeon," said Dr. E. Donnall Thomas, director emeritus of the center's clinical research division. "But he was aware that the ultimate answers to cancer would not come from surgery. So he became dedicated to furthering all kinds of cancer research."

Dr. Hutchinson served as the cancer center's first director through 1981 and its first president through 1985. The Hutch, as it is familiarly called, is known worldwide for its pioneering work in bone-marrow transplantation for leukemia, basic cancer research and cancer-prevention research.

Through his career as a general surgeon, Dr. Hutchinson operated on many cancer patients, especially those with breast cancer. It affected him deeply, friends said, and helped lead to his establishment of the Pacific Northwest Research Center. He stayed on as president of the smaller research center until he retired in 1996.

As more federal research funds became available in the early 1970s, he worked with Thomas and other researchers and the late Sen. Warren Magnuson to establish the Hutchinson Center.

"His legacy to Seattle and the world is an incredibly strong base for research development," said Dr. Paul Robertson, director of the Pacific Northwest Research Foundation. "At the same time, he was the classic family doctor whose patients will always remember as strong, hard-working and responsive to their needs."

The Hutchinson Center molecular-medicine building at its new South Lake Union campus was named for Dr. Bill Hutchinson in July 1996. Dr. Robert Day, then the center director, praised Dr. Hutchinson for his work in establishing the center in the early 1970s.

"His energy, enthusiasm and dedication to this purpose were outstanding," Day said. "Working with him, realizing over the years all he had to do while maintaining his surgical practice, has been one of the most important lessons in my life."

A native of Seattle, Dr. Hutchinson grew up in Rainier Valley and, like his brother, was a baseball star. As a third baseman, he batted .410 on the 1931 University of Washington team and was captain as the Huskies won the Pacific Coast Conference Northern Division championship that year. He played for the San Francisco Missions of the Pacific Coast League for a year and was invited to attend spring training with the Pittsburgh Pirates, when he decided to attend McGill University Medical School in Montreal.

After training for surgery in Baltimore, he married Charlotte Rigdon, a surgical nurse, in 1939.

On returning to Seattle in 1941, Dr. Hutchinson practiced at Providence Hospital for two years before joining the Swedish Hospital staff. He practiced there for 40 years.

"He could talk to people on any level, any subject," said Mary DuPhorne, his longtime secretary and nurse. "He would sit down, with the patient across his desk, and the patient was always very relaxed before he would tell his story to Dr. Hutchinson."

Dr. Hutchinson was team doctor for the Seattle Rainiers baseball team for years. Edo Vanni, former player and team manager, called Dr. Hutchinson a saint, "for the good will he spread."

"He would help all these old-timers who couldn't pay for services. They'd come in the front door, and he would run 'em out the back door. He inherited that from his father (a general practitioner)."

Dr. Hutchinson received many awards, including Seattle's First Citizen Award in 1976 and a doctorate in humanities from Seattle University in 1982. He was a longtime youth baseball coach and was presented the College of Baseball Classic Award in 1993 and inducted into the UW Husky Hall of Fame in 1995.

He was also a devoted family man, said his wife. "He expected the children to produce, . . . but he also gave them lots of love and affection," she said.

Besides his wife, survivors include sons William Hutchinson Jr., of Pacific Palisades, Calif.; John Hutchinson, of Boise, Idaho; and Dr. Stuart Hutchinson, of Santa Barbara, Calif.; daughters Charlotte Hutchinson Reed, of Seattle, and Mary Wiese, of Mill Valley, Calif.; and 15 grandchildren.

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Memorial service planned

-- A funeral service for family and friends is scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday at Rainier Beach Presbyterian Church, 9656 Waters Ave. S. -- A public memorial service will be held at a later date. -- Memorials may be sent to the Pacific Northwest Research Foundation, 720 Broadway, Seattle, WA. 98122.