'He Was a Person Who Never Gave Up'

Dr. James Mandell, CEO of Children's Hospital Boston, trained under Judah Folkman and was his friend for 30 years. Folkman died of a heart attack on Monday at age 74. NEWSWEEK's Claudia Kalb spoke with Mandell about Folkman's approach to life and work. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: How are you all doing?
Clearly, this was not expected. He'd been as vibrant last week as he was 10 years before and 10 years before that. We were really not expecting this at all.

Did he have any known heart issue?
No. He's been great, flying everywhere, active at all the international and national meetings.

What was his legacy?
He was a person who never gave up. He always encouraged us as well as his own lab to continue to look for solutions to the questions that came up, specifically in areas that involved patients. He was always the one who said, "What are the problems you see in the patients? What are the unanswered questions? Let's take them back to the lab and figure them out." That's one huge legacy: the relentlessness and orientation toward a solution. Second was his mentorship. Every one of us feels we were mentored by him. He was the kind of person who really inspired you. It wasn't a matter of drudgery or completion of a task; it was about conception, ideas, following through.

He inspired people outside his lab as well?
Everywhere. They're scattered now all across the industry, across the institutions, the world—people who trained under him or were influenced by him.

Did he talk about the personal trials, the early skepticism he endured?
Yes. I was here as a trainee, so I was in one of his offices in the '70s. I think that he looked at that as just a fact of life. He never thought that innovative ideas were easily accepted, and if they were, they probably weren't very innovative. I don't think he took it personally. He had a wonderful sense of optimism. That really followed over to those of us who were ourselves starting our careers.