Livingston, William K.

Biography

William Kenneth Livingston was born on October 21, 1892, in Sparta, Wisconsin to John W. Livingston and Sarah F. (Burr) Livingston. He received his BA in 1913 from the University of Oregon, and married Ruth Forbes Brown shortly thereafter, on February 28, 1914. They had two sons, Kenneth Edwin (1914-84) and Robert B., both of whom followed their father's footsteps into neuroscience.

Livingston began professional life as the head of a high school science department (1914-16) in Pendleton, Oregon, while he pursued his MA in Zoology (University of Oregon, 1915) and took some preliminary courses in medical school. The Livingstons then moved to Boston for about six years for William to finish medical school. He received his MD from Harvard in 1920, followed by two years in surgical residence at Massacheusetts General Hospital.

Returning to Oregon, Livingston set up private practice in Portland, 1922-44, with medical school affiliation at the University of Oregon. In 1927 he published his first paper, "Visceral Pain," in Northwest Medicine, and in 1935 his first book The Clinical Aspects of Visceral Neurology (Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois). His second book, Pain Mechanisms (MacMillan, NY, NY) came out in 1943 and was reprinted in 1947 and 1976.

During WWII, Livingston studied more than 2000 nerve-injured soldiers, taking extensive notes in the form of patient histories, follow-ups, and drawings. He entered active Naval service as a Lieutenant Commander on January 11, 1943. He served as the Chief of Neurosurgery Service at U.S. Naval Hospital in Oakland, California from August, 1945 until August, 1946, and was released from service at the rank of Captain on October 31, 1946. Immediately after service he spent a year as a visiting professor at New York University, the Royal College of Surgeons, Oxford University and Cambridge University. Livingston spent the rest of his medical career as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Surgery at the University of Oregon, from 1947 to 1958.

Livingston retired in 1958, when he and Ruth moved to Eastern Oregon. He continued to pursue many of his hobbies, which included, at various times in his life, racquet sports, wrestling, fishing, sailing, archery, pottery, photography, painting and music. He also worked on the manuscript of what he hoped would be his most complete book, Pain and Suffering, but it remains unfinished and unpublished.

William Livingston died at age 73 on March 22, 1966, while visiting a friend in Portland, Oregon, of coronary thrombosis.

Sources:

[List of Reprints, CV, Biographical Information], nd. [Box 5, Folder 20], William K. Livingston Papers, Manuscript collection number 136, Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library, History & Special Collections Division, University of California, Los Angeles.

[Obituaries], [1966]. [Box 5, Folder 26], William K. Livingston Papers, Manuscript collection number 136, Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library, History & Special Collections Division, University of California, Los Angeles.

[Oregonian clippings re: WKL's resignation], [1957]. [Box 5, Folder 31], William K. Livingston Papers, Manuscript collection number 136, Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library, History & Special Collections Division, University of California, Los Angeles.

From the guide to the William K. Livingston Papers, 1923-1966, (Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and Special Collections Division)