06/20/2025    Paul Kesselman, DPM

The Passing of Emory Dalton McGlamry, DPM

Over the past several days since the announcement
of Dr. McGlamry's passing many national officials
from podiatry organizations have written to bestow
amazing tributes to this great man. Today, I would
like to share some comments from a time when I was
a solo practitioner newly in practice who was
confronted with a very challenging case. Doctor
McGlamry bestowed a collegial helpful hand to
someone with little surgical experience just
shortly after completing Postgraduate training.
The patient was an IDDM male in his mid-50's with
bilateral charcot who was told by HHS and Joint
Disease here in NY that he required a BKA.

With much anticipation and with a bit of anxiety,
I called Dr. McGlamry's office, informed them of
my patients' issues and shortly thereafter he
called me back. I expected someone with his
professional reputation to be rather obnoxious,
conceited and difficult to deal with. What I found
was exactly the opposite. I found a man who was
willing to help, very approachable and extremely
friendly. After discussing the case, I overnighted
the patient's x-rays and some photos as these were
pre-digital and internet days (mid 1980s).

He called me back a day or two later and again
asked me what I could handle and what I should do
prior to having the patient fly to Atlanta.
A few months later, having completed my part of
the recommended course of care, the patient flew
down to Atlanta as did I a few days later.
Dr. McGlamry treated me as his guest at a PI
meeting and ultimately took me on a personally
guided tour of the office and hospital on a Sunday
evening as well as taking me to one of his
favorite restaurants along with several others.

The next day, I was welcomed as a surgical
assistant with the residents and scrubbed into the
case and was taught many of the advanced
techniques which Dr. McGlmary considered routine.
In fact, Dr. McGlamry asked me to scrub in later
in that first day with him on several "routine"
hallux valgus cases. He considered hallux vlgus
surgery, as he put it, "Bread and Butter
Podiatry".

This scene repeated itself several more times over
the course of the next year and a half and the
patient successfully underwent
several reconstructive surgeries (triples and
ankle fusions) and was able to return to work.
At least weekly Dr. McGlamry and I spoke about
this patient's progress and I often called him
about other cases. I also told other local DPMs
not to be intimidated and to call him with their
challenging cases.

My relationship with Dr. McGlamry continued until
his retirement. Dr. McGlamry also introduced me to
several other incredibly gifted surgeons at
several other Atlanta meetings which I had the
good fortune of attending. All of these surgeons
were also only too glad to share some incredible
surgical methods and which I continued to use
until my retirement from clinical practice.
There is no doubt that these physicians were
carrying on Dr. McGlamry's philosophy and mission.
That is to pay it forward, share your surgical
talents with others while still showing incredible
professionalism and kindness.

To all of Dr. McGlamry's family and friends, thank
you for sharing him with our profession.

RIP my friend, I will never forget your kindness
not only to me but to my patient(s).

Paul Kesselman, DPM

Other messages in this thread:

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06/19/2025    Mark Feldman, DPM

The Passing of Emory Dalton McGlamry, DPM

And so now 54 years later, we gather together to
honor and attempt to find someway to
express our gratitude to our founder Dr. E Dalton
McGlamry (EDM), his 2 partners and 10 colleagues
…….names….who through his individual leadership
and individual lifetime devotion to the
education of podiatric surgeons has produced the
170 podiatric surgeons present here. Our
podiatric Halstead, Thomas Hale Ham, Gray, Osler,
Ilizarov, Koefoed, and so many others in
whose company he belongs.

Because of EDM, we became chiefs of surgery at
several of the 11 colleges. We opened
podiatry slots in the Division of Research in
Medical Education at Case Western Reserve
University School of Medicine, for the M.S. in
medical education, developed podiatric surgical
residency opportunities in the Czech Republic, the
Netherlands, France, Russia, South and
Central America, and other countries. And
correcting exceedingly major deformities in
hundreds of adults and children in Mexico.

Your training program enabled the successful
granting of total surgical privileges in hundreds
of hospitals in this country implanting the
ankle and Ilizarov framing of major deformities
from pediatrics to geriatrics. And now the
extraordinary opportunity that Emory University
grants for the future of your giving us birth in
Tucker.

You gave us your life, thank you is not enough,
but we know not what else to say or do. We
teach what you taught us, our patients, and
ourselves are lifelong beneficiaries of your words
and deeds...thank you is not enough….thank you
will never be enough….you gave us your
life….thank you is not enough….with all the love
that the 4 letters that make up the word, and
love implies….thank you is not enough.
Dalton...thank you is not enough….your legacy will
live as long as our Earth, thank you is not now or
will ever be enough.

Mark Feldman, DPM

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06/18/2025    Jay A. Wenig, DPM

The Passing of Emory Dalton McGlamry, DPM

I graduated from podiatry school in 1981 and went
into the Air Force in October 1981. Back then the
Air Force had its own podiatry CME seminar held at
Brooks Air Force Base. My first encounter with Dr.
McGlamry was in January 1982 when Dr. McGlamry
being the Air Force civilian liaison, came and
lectured us for an entire eight-hour day. There
were 33 podiatrists in the Air Force back then.
The number is much smaller now and there is no
longer a dedicated military CME meeting. Dr.
McGlamry continued to do this for several more
years and we had the magical experience of
learning from Dr. McGlamry for an entire day all
to ourselves.

He showed up with enough slide carousels to equal
his height as well with well edited 16mm movies
with narration. For those of you who have never
taken a picture or movie except with your cell
phone, taking slides and making movies back then
was real work. With the technology then available,
taking a picture that was centered, in focus and
properly exposed took real effort. This was the
time when if you wanted to have text along with
your slides, you needed to have two slide
projectors running side by side. One loaded with
the pictures and the other with text slides.
Nothing like PowerPoint existed back then. I know
some of you who actually did this are smiling at
this thought. I for one appreciated the time and
effort it took to prepare these lectures as well
his taking time away from his family and practice
for us. I looked forward to these lectures every
year.

I took and passed my surgical boards on my first
try in 1986. The only thing I had that others
maybe did not, were those timely and state-of-the-
art CME lectures with Dr. McGlamry. I think it
helped. Several years ago at an ACFAS annual
scientific seminar, I was speaking with Michael
McGlamry about the textbooks that bear his name. I
was lamenting about the content, spelling and the
grammar in the later editions. He told me his
mother was an English teacher who proofread
everything when Dr. McGlamry was the editor. Kudos
need to go out to her too. Dr. McGlamry’s
knowledge and generosity to share it with us was
unparalleled in my career. He was one of the true
giants in the profession who served as a role
model to be emulated, and he will be missed.

Jay A. Wenig, DPM, Lt Col, USAF, BSC, retired

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06/18/2025    Joe Agostinelli, DPM

The Passing of Emory Dalton McGlamry, DPM

It’s with great sadness to hear of the passing of
one of the giants of our profession, E Dalton
McGlamry, DPM. Others will comment on his singular
accomplishments in advancing doctors of podiatric
medicine and surgery but I will comment on an
aspect that many may not know .

Military DPMs have Dr. McGlamry to thank for their
careers which have only been possible by the
efforts of this giant of our profession - He was a
reserve brigadier general in the armed forces. His
determination and persistence led to the
commissioning of DPMs in the USAF as Captains and
ensured that military DPMs should be residency
trained. Initially when military DPMs were
assessed into the armed forces - residency
training was not required and untrained podiatric
surgeons for the most part were entered into the
armed forces, especially in the USAF. Dr McGlamry
was responsible for making sure that those DPMs
entering the armed forces in the USAF. For
example, to be accepted into an existing civilian
DPM residency program while still maintaining
their status as active duty Captains undergoing
these residency programs at no cost to the DPM or
residency program.

Dr. McGlamry personally met and convinced the USAF
Surgeon General at the time in 1975 to establish a
program for the USAF DPMs to have the post-
graduate residency opportunity! I was one of those
young USAF Captains able to take advantage of the
opportunity that Dr. McGlamry was solely
responsible for. At our annual USAF seminars, Dr
McGlamry would provide full day lectures,
bringing his newly minted 16 mm films of podiatric
surgeries that would later become lectures at his
annual Atlanta seminars and published in his first
textbook.

The USAF DPMs were lucky and privileged to be the
first group of DPMs in the country able to see
these films of podiatric surgeries that became
standard teaching at the colleges of podiatric
medicine. He would spend the entire days teaching
and then continue his teaching/advice to us at
dinner and in the evenings talking to us of the
importance of post graduate residencies and
continued medical education. I am humbled to say
that personally I owe a debt of great gratitude to
Dr. McGlamry for my military career as a DPM. I
also humbly say that the advances we have made in
military podiatric medicine and surgery all
started with Dr. McGlamry. My personal heartfelt
condolences to the McGlamry family. RIP General
McGlamry.

Joe Agostinelli, DPM, Colonel USAF (Retired),
Niceville , FL