Inventor who fought cancer with radio waves dies
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John Kanzius, described last year by Discover Magazine as one of the world's 50 most promising scientists, died early today of the disease he was working to cure.
Mr. Kanzius, 64, who divided his time between Erie and Sanibel Island, Fla., died at 12:45 a.m. from pneumonia while undergoing chemotherapy for b-cell leukemia.
Ever since his diagnosis in April 2002, the Washington County native, who had spent a career building and operating radio and television stations, devoted his time to developing a novel approach to targeting cancer then killing it with heat from radio waves.
His numerous inventions and methodology to treat and even cure cancer remains the focus of research at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. There the team had success in targeting and killing cancer in laboratory settings, with hopes for human clinical trials in coming years.
His unlikely success, given the fact he had neither a college nor medical degree, garnered international attention that included a segment last fall on "60 Minutes" on CBS.
First Published February 18, 2009 3:57 pm
