Dr. George Curry

Dr. George Curry, a former professor of Radiology who played an important role in the Department’s residency training program, died May 7 in Denver, Colorado. He was 82 years old.

A former vice chair of the Department, Dr. Curry laid the foundations for what has become one of the largest radiology residency training programs in the nation during his 24-year directorship. He also served as a Professor of Radiology from 1977 to 2011. He joined the faculty as an Assistant Professor in 1971.

“I left for a year in 1977 to go to the University of Alabama – Birmingham,” he recalled in a 2011 interview for the Texas Radiological Society (TRS). “My old mentor from my fellowship kept calling me. I don’t want to sound mawkish, but I really missed [UT Southwestern]. I came back a year later and stayed forever.”

In 2001, Dr. Curry became the inaugural holder of the M.R. & E. Hudson Foundation Professorship in Radiology in Honor of Edward E. Christensen, M.D. Dr. Christensen began the residency program that Dr. Curry would later develop.

Dr. Curry was born in El Paso, Texas on February 12, 1937, graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso in 1958 and received his medical degree from UT Southwestern in 1962. After his internal medicine internship, he was drafted into the Navy, serving as a physician aboard the USS Mahon in the Western Pacific. Upon returning to Dallas, he completed his radiology residency training at Parkland Memorial Hospital and obtained advanced training in cardiac radiology from the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville.

In many ways, Dr. Curry’s career followed a path laid out by his older brother, Thomas Curry III, who also graduated from the same institutions, became a radiologist, and had a distinguished teaching career in the Radiology department at UT Southwestern. Both Currys were profiled in the Department's history book, Vision 60.

Notably, Dr. George Curry was a founder of the Association of Program Coordinators in Radiology, and served as chair of the organization’s Review Committee.

“My favorite role was as program director,” he recalled in the TRS interview. “I loved it. It was fun working with young people.”

In 2001, Dr. Curry became one of the first recipients of the Parker J. Palmer “Courage to Teach” award, presented by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education to outstanding program directors in Diagnostic Radiology.

“It was very special,” he said of the recognition. “It was the biggest honor I’ve ever had.”

A Fellow of the American College of Radiology, he had also been a member of the Radiological Society of North America, American Medical Association, Association of University Radiologists, Texas Medical Association, Texas Radiological Society, and Dallas County Medical Society.

Dr. Curry enjoyed outdoor activities, particularly duck hunting and gardening. He also coached youth baseball and adult softball.

In addition to his brother, he is survived by Miriam (known as Mimi), his wife of 61 years; three children, Mark and his wife Julie, Glen and his wife Julia, and Mimi (known as Little Mimi) and her husband John Falcon; and four grandchildren.