WILLIAM ORRISON JR., M.D., M.B.A.

William Werner Orrison, 68, passed away Oct. 19, 2017, in Las Vegas, of a neurodegenerative disorder. Born April 2, 1949, in Louisville, Ky., Bill was the eldest child of Agnes Rutherford Miller “Ruth” Orrison, R. N., and William Werner Orrison Sr., M.D., known as Werner. Bill grew up in southwestern Kansas, where his father was among the last generation of country doctors. From his earliest years, Bill witnessed his father’s devotion to humble patients and dreamed of joining him in practice as a physician. Bill graduated in 1967 from Meade High School, an Eagle Scout and accomplished horseman. Attending the University of Kansas in Lawrence on an ROTC scholarship, Bill rose to commander of his U.S. Air Force squadron, but at the Fiji house he was known as “Doc,” for his unlicensed diagnostic skills. He graduated from KU in 1971 in chemistry and remained a lifelong Jayhawk fan. As a second-year student at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, Bill encouraged his 52-year-old father to undergo elective heart surgery. Dr. Orrison died on the operating table. Guilt-ridden, Bill dropped out of school. However, the Air Force gave Bill the option to repay his college scholarship as a sewer technician or to resume his studies toward becoming a physician. Dr. William Werner Orrison Jr. graduated in 1975. After completing his internship at the University of Wisconsin, Bill remained in Madison to enter a double residency in neurology and radiology, finishing in 1981. While a resident, Bill contracted meningitis from a patient, lapsing into a coma. Regaining consciousness, Bill had to learn to walk and talk again. Among Bill’s caretakers was Rebecca Spiller, R.N., whom Bill married in 1982. Bill and Becky had three children together, William Werner III, now of Las Vegas, Jennifer Jean of San Diego, Calif., and Michael Matthew of Park City, Utah. Bill completed two fellowships in neuroradiology, the first at Ulleval Hospital in Oslo, Norway in 1981, and the second at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Now an expert in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Bill returned to fulfill his obligation to the government as chief of neuroradiology and later chairman of radiology at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Miss., from 1982 to 1985, attaining the rank of major. Out of the service, Dr. Orrison entered academic medicine at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where he led the medical school’s efforts in uroradiology, special procedures, non-invasive diagnosis, and MRI. In 1997, Bill became professor and chairman of radiology at the University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City, while living with his family in Park City. Colleagues recall his cutting-edge research in magnetoencephalography and his unfailing empathy for patients and their families. Bill earned his M.B.A. at the University of Utah in 2002. The following year he left academic medicine to open medical-imaging centers in Las Vegas, while still writing, researching, and lecturing. Bill wrote five textbooks on medical imaging, including the bible on the subject, Neuroimaging. He contributed 24 chapters to others’ books, authored or co-authored 145 major papers and 172 abstracts, secured 11 patents, and conducted 2,400 hours of continuing medical education. But these professional accomplishments were not his foremost priority. Bill delighted in the interests of his children, who drew him to the basketball court, the ski slopes, and Disney theme parks. He wrote “cowboy poetry” and children’s stories. As his family members and past mentors aged, Bill suspended his pressing professional duties to lavish on them the same bedside care he had watched Werner give his rural patients. Bill’s marriage to Becky ended in 2011. In June 2012, Bill suffered a massive heart attack, but was encouraged throughout his recovery by his fiancee, Heather Margaret Stanley, a Canadian synchronized swimmer who was then coaching performers with Cirque du Soleil. Heather and “Wil,” as she calls him, married Feb. 12, 2014, and the couple remained in Las Vegas with Heather’s children from a previous marriage, Drew Reidun Stanley and Finn Topher Stanley. When Bill’s condition became clinical in late 2016, his bucket list became people. Defying the course of the disease, he traveled to Alaska, Vancover, and the Rockies. In August, Bill returned to Kansas with his son Mike and longtime friends Marc and John to watch the sun eclipsed for the last time during his earthly life. William Werner Orrison Jr., M.D., was preceded in death by his parents, Werner and Ruth Orrison; his nephew, Bryce Cyr Miquelon; and his cousin, Wayman Spence. In addition to spouse, Heather, children Bill, Jenny and Mike, and stepchildren Drew and Finn, Bill is survived by sisters, Mary Orrison Woods, her husband, Gregory Woods, and their children, William, James, C. Andrew and Emily of Atlanta, Ga., and Agnes Orrison “Ann” Miquelon, her husband, Bryan, and their son, Joey of Indian Hills, Colo.; as well as by thousands of patients alive today because Bill peered into their minds in search of disease and held their hands in comfort. Memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 5, at the Cleveland Clinic for Brain Health in Las Vegas. Condolences via www.kraftsussman.com Memorial gifts to The Cheley Foundation www.cheleyfoundation.org