Dick Hill, the former Editor-in-Chief of this journal from August 2002 to December 2016 died on October 31st, 2021. He was at home, supported by his family; his wife Lyndel, his adult children Michael, Peter and Kirsty, and his 4 grandchildren, Sam, Alexis, Michaela and Max, to whom he was affectionately known as Papa. Dick died from multiple myeloma, which was diagnosed some 14 years earlier, and as a cancer scientist he appreciated those years of good quality life that modern treatments allowed him; only a few years earlier people with this diagnosis could expect a median survival of about 3 years. These were years in which he could spend time with his family and friends, but also add to his many professional achievements in radiation and tumor biology, as well as continuing to mentor many younger scientists.
Dick was born in Northern Ireland but after a few years the family moved to Oxfordshire, England. Following his formative years attending the Reading Grammar school, Dick went on to St. John’s College, Oxford to study physics and it was here that he met Lyndel, and they married in 1966. Dick completed his PhD in radiation biology in 1967 at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, part of the University of London, under the supervision of Patricia Lindop. Thereafter he crossed the Atlantic and was a postdoctoral fellow and junior scientist with Ray Bush from 1967–1971 at the Ontario Cancer Institute, the research arm of what is now the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (PMCC). Dick returned briefly to the UK, but in 1973 returned to Toronto to join the senior scientific staff of the Ontario Cancer Institute, where he was cross appointed to the Departments of Medical Biophysics and of Radiation Oncology at the University of Toronto. Except for a sabbatical with Bill Wilson in Auckland, New Zealand, he remained there for the rest of his long scientific career. He retired from active research in 2015, but as Professor Emeritus he continued to teach, to advise, to write and to edit.
Dick will be remembered professionally for his mentorship, scholarship and his outstanding contributions to radiation biology and oncology. Across his career, Dick left an indelible mark on many students in his lab, and impacted radiation and tumor biology with his research, innovation, and authorship. His seminal work addressed the multifaceted role of tumor hypoxia in cancer biology and treatment, for which he led a continually funded Terry Fox Program Grant from 1996 to 2009; he continued thereafter to advise the current leaders of this program grant, which remains funded to the present day. Many important papers have emerged from this program that brought together clinicians and scientists, and Dick trained many students, postdoctoral and clinical fellows who continue to research this important area. Dick also made important contributions into mechanisms underlying normal tissue reactions where the clever technical design of his experiments showed the importance of abscopal as well as volume effects. Together with Victor Ling, he demonstrated inherent variability in metastatic ability of tumor cells, defined in a 1984 paper published in Science as ‘dynamic heterogeneity’, that provides an underlying mechanism as to why the search for ‘metastasis gene(s)’ has been a search for fool’s gold. Dick gave many invited lectures around the world and received many awards, including the 2007 Robert Noble prize, the highest recognition of research excellence bestowed by the Canadian Cancer Society. In recognition of his outstanding mentorship, an annual award is made in his name to an outstanding mentor at PMCC.
Together with Ian Tannock, Dick organized and taught a course on the basic science of oncology that was given for several years to clinical and scientific trainees at PMCC. Observing the lack of a supportive textbook on this topic, they decided to produce one, with contributions (edited by them into a uniform format), mainly from their colleagues at PMCC. The first edition of ‘The Basic Science of Oncology’ appeared in 1987, and (with later assistance of other editors) has been updated through 6 editions; the last of which was published in 2021, just a few months ago. There have also been Japanese, Greek and Italian editions, and the book has been used around the world as a reference for teaching.
An amazing father and grandfather who gave tremendous support to his family, Dick was a role model for younger scientists and a dear friend to many. He was a gentleman, but also a gentle man. He contributed to his local community, played cricket for many years, and later took up the very Canadian pastime of curling. He loved to hike and would take advantage of meetings in places as far afield as Europe and New Zealand to explore the countryside. He could be seen often striding through the Toronto ravines, and a walk with Dick was a hop, skip and a jump for many others, just to keep up with him. Even while receiving treatments for his myeloma, he would walk the 3 km from his home, down (and back) to and from the Princess Margaret Hospital. This journal is proud to have had him as its Editor-in-Chief.