Lysia K.S. Forno, MD February 14, 1918-May 8, 2015.

Lysia K.S. Forno, MD Lysia K. Saxe was born on Valentine's Day in Hallund, Denmark, and died at home in Redwood City, California, on the 70th anniversary of the Victory in Europe Day. During her childhood, she enjoyed bicycling through the countryside (and occasionally smoking cigars) with her brother Skjold. Because both of her parents were teachers, it was not surprising that she would pursue higher education. She attended the University of Copenhagen and received her MD in 1943, at the time of the Nazi occupation. After a rotating internship, she trained in internal medicine, psychiatry, neurosurgery, and neurology at various Danish hospitals (1944–1947). She then served as a clinical assistant in Neurology at the Aarhus Municipal Hospital and Aarhus University Neurology Clinic (1947–1950). Her interest in the field of neuropathology was inspired by Dr. Erna Christensen, the first diagnostic neuropathologist in Denmark. An American Association of University Women Fellowship provided her with the opportunity to come to the United States to study neuropathology with Drs. Raymond D. Adams and E. P. Richardson, Jr, at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston where she subsequently was a resident and fellow in Neuropathology. She then trained in General Pathology at the Massachusetts Memorial Hospital, Boston (now Boston University Hospital). She returned to Denmark where she continued to practice pathology and neurology from 1953 to 1954. On the boat from the United States to Denmark, she met Bert H. Forno whom she married in 1954. Bert died in 1978. In 1957, Dr. Forno began her association with the Stanford University School of Medicine (then located in San Francisco), where she worked with Dr. Knox Finley. She was a research associate in Neuropathology, Department of Pathology, and worked one-half to two-thirds time while balancing neuropathology with domestic chores and the care of her …