Renowned California Alzheimer's researcher dies in plane crash.
Renowned California Alzheimer's researcher dies in plane crash.
Monday, Feb. 05, 2007
Dr. Leon J. Thal, a noted researcher in Alzheimer's disease at the University of California in San Diego, (UCSD) died this past weekend after his small plane crashed in the mountains northeast of San Diego.
For 22 years, Thal was chairman of UCSD's neurosciences department. He was 62 years old.
He was alone on board his Mooney M20 airplane when it went down Saturday near Borrego Springs, Calif., which is a desert community 42 miles south-southeast of Palm Springs, Calif., Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials said.
Thal directed the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study, a consortium of more than 70 research centers in the United States and Canada. The consortium investigates experimental therapies. He also managed UCSD's Shiley-Marcos Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, and oversaw more than $100 million in federal research grants.
According to friends and associates, Thal was an avid pilot. He had flown his single-engine plane across the United States seven times and was quoted as saying, "Flying is what I do the most," in terms of having a passionate hobby.
Born in New York City in 1944, Thal earned a medical degree from the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., and he received advanced training in neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, N.Y.
His first position at UCSD in 1985 was associate professor of neurosciences. By 1993, he was named department chair.
Officials said Thal took off in his Mooney M20 plane about 6:15 p.m. from Montgomery Field, south of the Miramar Marine Air Corps Station in San Diego.
Thal's wife Donna Thal is a neuropsychologist and professor emeritus at San Diego State University. Authorities said she notified them Saturday evening when her husband failed to arrive on time in Borrego Springs, Calif.
California Civil Air Patrol volunteers picked up a distress signal from Thal's plane about 10 p.m. Saturday night. Local sheriff's deputies reached the crash by helicopter and found the body in the plane at about 1 a.m.
It was not known whether Thal survived after the plane's initial impact. An autopsy will be performed today to determine the cause of death.
The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the cause of the crash.
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