William Thomas Dixon

William Thomas Dixon (Tom) died on August 1, 2022, due to complications from Parkinson’s disease.

Tom was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to William Parmley Dixon and Virginia Smith Dixon. Following his father’s various engineering jobs, the family moved to Charles City, Iowa; Dayton, Ohio; Elmira, New York; and then to St. Paul, Minnesota, where Tom finished high school.

Tom started college at the University of Wisconsin then transferred to the University of Minnesota, graduating with a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering in 1967. He attended medical school at Stanford University but, finding himself more interested in engineering and physics than medicine, moved back to Minnesota in 1969 to work at the Control Data Corporation developing new supercomputers.

A few years later, he moved to the University of California at San Diego to begin his Ph.D. in physics. He graduated in 1980, and moved to St. Louis, Missouri where he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Monsanto. He was then hired by the Radiology Department of Washington University Medical School to start their MRI research program in 1983.

Tom met his wife, Dabney Katherine White, while in San Diego. They were married in St. Louis in 1982; their son, William Robert Dixon, was born in 1983.

In 1986, Tom moved to Atlanta to lead the Frits Philips Center for Magnetic Resonance Imaging at Emory University. In 2000, Tom moved to the General Electric Global Research Center in Niskayuna, New York, returning to Emory University in 2012 and retiring in 2017.

Over Tom’s career, he made seminal contributions to the field of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, including a widely used fat-water separation technique, now known as the “Dixon Technique.” For his contributions, he was elected as a Fellow of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine in 2007 and received the society’s Gold Medal Award in 2013.

Both in his research and in his life, Tom was enamored by new ideas, always looking for ways to do things differently. While some of these ideas did not work out, and others left you with raised eyebrows, more than a few were simply spectacular. He was always ready with a joke or story, and neighborhood children benefited greatly from his willingness to lead elaborate and often exothermic backyard experiments.

Since his passing, numerous friends and scientific colleagues have expressed their admiration for Tom. Some have commented on the inspiration and support he provided to other scientists. Many have recalled experiences with Tom that revealed his unique and delightful sense of humor. A reoccurring theme in the many tributes has been Tom’s humility. Although a person responsible for major scientific advances, he was humble, unassuming, compassionate, and generous.

Tom is survived by his wife, Dabney White Dixon, of Atlanta, Georgia, and his son, William Robert Dixon, of Dummerston, Vermont.

There will be a memorial service at 11 AM on Saturday, October 1, 2022, at North Decatur Presbyterian Church, 611 Medlock Rd, Decatur, GA 30033. The service will be broadcast on the church’s Facebook page.

Tom will also be remembered in a Zoom event on October 22, 2022, at 4:00 PM EDT. Those wishing to speak or attend should email tomdixonmri@gmail.com for directions.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to Samaritan’s Purse, PO Box 3000, Boone, NC, 28607 or Doctors Without Borders, 40 Rector Street, 16th Floor, New York, NY, 10006