David Grignon, M.D., former chair of the Wayne State University School of Medicine Department of Pathology died Jan. 28. He was 64.

Dr. Grignon chaired the Department of Pathology, first on an interim basis and then permanently, from 2000 to 2007. He also served as chief of Pathology at Harper University Hospital and specialist-in-chief of the Detroit Medical Center.

He was serving as the Centennial Professor and vice chair for Clinical Programs in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Indiana University, Indianapolis at the time of his death.

He received his medical degree in 1981 from the University of Western Ontario, and completed his pathology residency at the same institution. He went on to serve as chief fellow in surgical and then urologic pathology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

An internationally renowned expert on genitourinary pathology, Dr. Grignon published 350 research/review articles and 35 book chapters. He is an author or editor of five books, including the 4th Series AFIP fascicle on Tumors of the Kidney, Bladder, and Related Urinary Structures, and the text, Urological Pathology. Dr. Grignon was passionate about education and mentoring. Hundreds of residents, fellows, graduate students and faculty at all career levels credit their academic successes to the guidance, generosity with expertise, time and resources he made available to them.

He presented more than 300 invited lectures and courses nationally in five continents and 30 countries. He has also directed numerous courses for all the major organizations in pathology including the American Society for Clinical Pathology, the College of American Pathologists, the International Academy of Pathology, the International Society of Urological Pathology and the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology. Dr. Grignon has served in various capacities for all of the above organizations, along with his active participation in multiple World Health Organization-sponsored classification and consensus panels in all areas of genitourinary pathology. Born, raised and starting his career in Canada, Dr. Grignon was a fellow of the College of American Pathologists and of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

The International Society of Urological Pathology, of which Dr. Grignon was a founding member and recent past-president  (2018-2019), called him “one of a few giants of late 20th century and early 21st century urological pathology.” In 2016, the society awarded him the Koss Medal for lifelong contributions to the field of urologic pathology.

He is survived by his wife, Laurie, and his two sons, Robert and Mark.