Robert Rushmer, pioneering bioengineer
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Yet while working on systems to save or improve lives, he also knew to savor his own.
When he died Friday at 86 after a long illness, he was remembered both as a pioneer in bioengineering — the marriage of engineering and medicine — and as a man who had fun.
A medical researcher at the University of Washington until his retirement in 1986, Dr. Rushmer was a key figure in the development of cardiac-monitoring machines, the use of ultrasound to check the growth of a fetus or the health of a heart, control systems for artificial hearts and the use of computers in medicine. His research on heart function was considered ground-breaking.
He was founder and chairman of the UW's Department of Bioengineering, and he wrote numerous medical books and received a long list of honors.
"He was a very creative and original thinker," said Dr. Robert Van Citters, retired dean of the UW School of Medicine and a former research colleague.
Recalling Dr. Rushmer's zest for his work, Van Citters said he seemed to consider it not work at all, so greatly did he relish it.
"I saw him a week ago and he said to me, `We had fun, didn't we?' " Van Citters said.
Dr. Rushmer's widespread influence stemmed not only from his inventive ways with technology but also from his impact on postdoctoral students who came from around the world to study under him.
"Many of them have gone on to illustrious careers," said his son, Donald Rushmore. "I can think of people in Argentina, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Japan" whose work today remains influenced by what they learned from his father.
The son was influenced as well. "When I was kid," he recalled, "I used to visit his laboratory all the time. You couldn't help but get excited about science."
That excitement sent all three of Dr. Rushmer's children into medical careers — Donald as a neuroscientist in Oregon, Anne Rushmer of Whidbey Island as an emergency-room social worker, and Elizabeth Harris of Edmonds as an optometrist.
The son of an optometrist and grandson of a physician, Dr. Rushmer was born Nov. 30, 1914, in Ogden, Utah. After graduating from the University of Chicago, he earned his medical degree from Rush Medical College in Chicago.
He took his residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., where he met his future wife, "Dixie" Dix, who was studying nutrition. They were married 59 years.
During World War II, Dr. Rushmer conducted biomedical research with the Army Air Corps at Randolph Field in Texas. After the war, he joined the UW, first in physiology and biophysics, later in bioengineering. Among his many honors was membership in the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine.
Despite his engrossing work, Dr. Rushmore found time for outside pleasures including skiing, scuba diving, sailing and traveling, as well as a fascination with archaeology and enjoyment of the family beach home on Whidbey.
At the time of his death, he and his wife lived at Emerald Heights Retirement Center in Redmond.
Besides his wife and children, he leaves numerous grandchildren.
A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Emerald Heights. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center.
Judith Blake can be reached at jblake@seattletimes.com.