Medical illustrator Gerald Hodge, 91, dies

DETROIT -- Gerald Parker Hodge, a pioneering, world-renowned medical illustrator and fine artist who specialized in "fool the eye" paintings, has died at his home in Michigan, his daughter said. He was 91.

Hodge died Thursday in Ann Arbor after a fight with cancer, said his daughter and caretaker, Melinda Hodge of Lock Haven, Pa. He was a longtime professor at the University of Michigan, where he founded the master's program in medical and biological illustration in 1964.

His medical and biological illustrations appeared in hundreds of journals and books and won repeated recognition from the Association of Medical Illustrators.

Besides Hodge's widely known medical illustrations, his botanical illustrations are part of the prestigious collection of the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation at the Carnegie-Mellon University.

Born Dec. 3, 1920, in Denver, Hodge studied painting at the University of Colorado before enlisting in the Army during World War II. He fought in the invasion of Okinawa, a months-long battle between the U.S. and Japan near the end of the war.

Along with his daughter, he is survived by a son, John Hodge, of Quincy, Ill., and grandchildren.