February 20th, 2009

Reports the Erie Times-News:

[Kanzius] died Wednesday afternoon at a hospital near his winter home in Sanibel, Fla.

…

Kanzius died from pneumonia, a complication from two rounds of chemotherapy he had recently undergone.

He had been diagnosed in 2002 with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, a rare cancer.

“The last time I talked with John was during his second round of chemo,” said Colleen Cook, a Kanzius family friend and his former administrative assistant. “He said that he couldn’t wait to get out of the hospital and get home.”

Kanzius received national media attention in 2008 with his radio-frequency generator. The device kills cancer cells that are targeted with pieces of metal by heating them with radio waves emitted from outside the body.

…

Researchers at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center are currently testing the device on live animals.

“Our entire lab is shocked and mourning,” said Steven Curley, M.D., principal investigator for the Kanzius project at M.D. Anderson. “This is an inestimable loss to all of us who loved John.”

Kanzius started his career as an engineer, designing radio transmitters for RCA. He later worked as an engineer at WJET-TV and eventually became station manager and co-owner of Jet Broadcasting.

Read more of this story at the Erie Times-News.

People from all over Pennsylvania are mourning the lost of Kanzius.  Some reactions published in the Erie Times-News:

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa.:

“I am deeply saddened to hear about the passing of John Kanzius, a man who dedicated his life to finding a cure for cancer. Mr. Kanzius believed that nothing was more important and more urgent than finding a humane treatment for the terrible disease. Mr. Kanzius and his work will be greatly missed, but it is my hope that someone else will be able to pick up where he left off. My thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Kanzius and his family.”

Patrick Fetzner, member of the John Kanzius Cancer Research Foundation:

“John became a personal friend. A lot of us, in all of northwestern Pennsylvania, came to know John as a visionary who attempted to cure this insidious disease. I spoke to him last Tuesday, and he was very upbeat, talking about various aspects of the project.

“Everything is going to go forward in his honor and memory.”