THOMAS NOGUCHI Biography - Famous Medicine & health care related men and women

 
 

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THOMAS NOGUCHI

Name: Thomas T. Noguchi                                                               
Born: 4 January 1927                                                                   
                                                                                       
Thomas T. Noguchi (born January 4, 1927) is a former Chief Medical                     
Examiner-Coroner for the County of Los Angeles, who served in that position from       
1967 to 1982. Known as the "coroner to the stars", he determined the cause of         
death in many high profile cases. He is most famous for doing an autopsy on           
Marilyn Monroe and Robert F. Kennedy.                                                 
                                                                                       
Noguchi was born in Japan and graduated from Tokyo's Nippon Medical School in         
1951 before interning at Tokyo University Hospital. Shortly thereafter he             
immigrated to the United States. He then served a second internship at Orange         
County General Hospital and a series of residencies at Loma Linda University           
School of Medicine, and Barlow Sanatorium in Los Angeles. He was appointed a           
deputy coroner for Los Angeles County in 1961. In 1967 he became Chief Medical         
Examiner (CME) for the county, replacing his mentor Theodore Curphy. It was in         
this role that Noguchi came to public attention for a series of autopsies he           
either performed or supervised on a range of celebrities that included Marilyn         
Monroe, Robert F. Kennedy, Janis Joplin, Albert Dekker, William Holden, John           
Belushi, Natalie Wood, and Sharon Tate.                                               
                                                                                       
He developed a high profile as CME, and was often accused of speaking too freely       
to the media, which led to his ultimately being forced to step down from his           
position in 1982. He was later appointed Chief of Pathology at the University of       
Southern California and then as Administrative Pathologist for Anatomic               
Pathology services at the USC Medical Center.                                         
                                                                                       
Noguchi was appointed Professor by both the University of Southern California         
and UCLA. He is a past president of the American National Association of Medical       
Examiners. In 1999 he was honored by the Emperor of Japan who awarded him the         
Order of the Sacred Treasure for "outstanding contribution to Japan in the area       
of forensic science". He retired the same year.