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Robert A. Good, 81, immunology pioneer
ST. PETERSBURG -- (AP) -- Dr. Robert A. Good, a pioneer of modern immunology who performed the world's first successful human bone marrow transplant, died Friday night. He was 81.
Good, who died at his home, was surrounded by his family and some students, said Ann Miller, a spokeswoman for All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg.
''His concern for children's lives through his work to understand the immune system and bone marrow transplantation benefited not just the little ones but countless thousands of adults who have been saved through the discoveries he made,'' said J. Dennis Sexton, former president of All Children's.
Good performed the world's first bone marrow transplant in 1968 while working at the University of Minnesota.
His patient was a 4-month-old boy who suffered from a genetic disease of the immune system that had killed 11 male children in the boy's extended family.
Using bone marrow from the child's sister, Good was able to restore the boy's immune system.
The boy survived and is now the father of twin sons.
Today, bone marrow transplants are used in treating about 75 diseases including leukemia and otherwise fatal immunodeficiency disorders.
Good began his career in 1944 and his early studies helped establish that diseases that affect the body's immune response are not as rare but instead are a frequent basis of serious diseases.
His research also led to the identification of T-cells and B-cells, main components of the body's immune system.
After his success with the bone marrow transplants, Good was named president of the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research in New York.
He was featured in a Time magazine cover story titled ``Toward Control of Cancer.''
He joined All Children's Hospital in 1985 and began research on skin tissue grafting research that could eventually lead to breakthroughs in organ transplantation.
Good was honored by U.S. Rep. Bill Young, R-St. Petersburg, on the floor of the House in 1994. Young teamed with Good to establish the National Bone Marrow Registry in 1987.
Good wrote or co-wrote at least 2,000 publications and wrote or edited about 50 books. He also received more than 100 national or international awards.
Good was born in Crosby, Minn., and pledged to become a doctor at age 6, after his father died of cancer. Good then overcame a polio-like disease while he was a junior at the University of Minnesota.
Survivors include his wife, five children and two stepchildren. | 
