Harry N. Herkowitz, MD, died suddenly on June 7, 2013, from a heart attack. Dr. Herkowitz was chair of orthopaedic surgery at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, Rochester, Mich., and directed the spine surgery fellowship program from 1987 to 2008. A past president of the Cervical Spine Research Society and the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery, Dr. Herkowitz had served as medical editor for spine content on the AAOS Orthopaedic Knowledge Online Journal (OKOJ) since its inception.

A graduate of Wayne State University School of Medicine who completed a spine surgery fellowship at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, Dr. Herkowitz specialized in the surgical management of spinal disorders including spinal stenosis, herniated disks, deformity, and trauma to the neck and back. His research interests included degenerative solutions to aging disks and improving spinal implants.

“His legacy will be in his academic and teaching role,” said Jeffrey Fischgrund, MD, a colleague and current editor-in-chief of the Journal of the AAOS. “He started the first training program for spine surgeons, and two generations of spine surgeons are carrying forward his legacy.”