DONALD J. DALESSIO ’52

DONALD J. DALESSIO, M.D., a neurologist, died Feb. 25, 2017. He was 85. A member of Delta Kappa Epsilon, he received his degree with honors. After receiving his medical degree from Yale University, he served in the U.S. Army and then completed his neurology training. He served for many years as chairman of the Medicine Group for the Scripps Clinic of La Jolla, where he did research and specialized in the treatment of severe migraine headaches. Upon his retirement from active practice, the headache clinic was named in his honor: The Donald J. Dalessio Headache Center at Scripps Clinic. In addition to his practice, he wrote and edited multiple editions of Wolff’s Headache, the standard text for headache pain that is used by physicians worldwide. He also wrote scholarly reports, and edited the National Headache Journal, the Scripps Clinic Personal Health Newsletter, served on the editorial board for the Journal of the American Medical Association, and was a medical columnist for the San Diego Tribune. As an educator, he was a clinical professor of neurology at UC, San Diego, the Musser-Burch Lecturer at Tulane University, and the Kash Lecturer at the University of Kentucky Medical School. He also served as president of the American Society for the Study of Headache, the National Migraine Foundation, and the Federation of the Western Society of Neurology. His wife, Jane Schneider Dalessio, predeceased him. Three children, four grandchildren, and his brother, John G. Dalessio ’60, survive.