Dear Members, Colleagues and Friends,

Dr. Ray was one of the founding fathers of our society when it was chartered in 2001 as the Spine Arthroplasty Society. He was the president of our society from 2001 to 2004 and continued to support the growth of the society as our membership and focus on spine treatments evolved through the years.

Dr. Ray was instrumental in writing the bylaws for the society with Dr. Karen Büttner-Janz during her presidency of the society from 2008-2009.

Read More About Dr. Ray on ISASS

Obituary

CHARLES DEAN RAY, AB, MS, MD, FACS, FRSH (Lond.)

Source: The News-Press – Visit to Leave a Message for His Family

Charles D. Ray, M.D. died peacefully in his sleep July 21, 2011 in Santa Barbara, California at the age of 83. He is survived by his daughter, Marlene Ray of Santa Barbara and his son, Bruce Charles Ray, of Minneapolis.

Dr. Ray was the co-founder of the North American Spine Society as well as the founding President of the Spine Arthroplasty Society, and a co-founder of both the American College of Spine Surgery and the American Board of Spine Surgery. As international lecturer and visiting surgeon, he was named Distinguished Alumnus in 1994 by his Alma Mater, The Medical College of Georgia. Dr. Ray is the holder of 53 U.S. patents and over 100 foreign patents, over 365 articles and books and his bibliography lists 340 entries. He is the inventor of the Ray Threaded Fusion Cage, as well as the prosthetic nucleus to restore degenerative discs. For this work he was declared the Gold Winner of the Medical Design Excellence Award for the year 2000. He was also awarded one of the three R&D 100 (along with NASA and DuPont Inc.) Best of the Best Awards — his for the development of this product having the most humanistic application.

Read More at The News-Press