Birth date: Nov 5, 1927 Death date: Sep 6, 2013
AWAD, Jr ,William M.., MD, PhD, Of Coral Gables, Florida passed away peacefully on September 6, 2013 after living for many years with cancer. He was born an American citizen in Shanghai, China in 1927 and lived there until the Jap Read Obituary
I have known Bill for 30 plus years. I first became aware of him when a Chinese graduate student came into my office an announced that she had met truly an amazing faculty member. She told me this tall professor was working in the laboratory next to her and initiated a conversation. She having only recently arrived from China said that Bill recognized her accent and suddenly switched to speaking in perfect Shanghainese. She described the experience as surreal with this perfect Shanghai dialect emanating from a Caucasian face. It made such an impression that she told this story to everyone. It took me a year to figure out whom this person was and that I knew him.
Over the years I have served on committees with Bill, locked horns with him over an MD/PhD student in my laboratory, shared many conversation riding the Metrorail, and most recently we got together periodically to play poker with the time-to-chill gang. I loved listening to his many stories growing up in Shanghai, China, spending time in a Japanese prison, and traveling to America during WWII aboard enemy and allied ships. He was truly a gentleman’s gentleman, and a wonderful colleague and friend. I am going to miss him.
W. Glenn L. Kerrick
