Dr. Ian David Maddison

Dr. Ian David Maddison, MA. BM. BCh. MRCP. FRCR., was a radiologist known for editing and curating the George Simon’s X-Ray Collection for the Museum of the Royal College of Radiologists, part of an online resource which received 4 million views a year during its’ conception in the 1990s through early 2000s. His article for The British Journal of Radiology in 1997 displayed his curiosity in computer technology and the future it would create for the Internet and radiology. His greatest contribution to his field was as a consultant radiologist at the Central Middlesex Hospital in London, England and as an educator and teacher.

Born in Portsmouth, England, to a Royal Marine, Eric, and his wife Sheila Maddison, Ian excelled academically, earning his Bachelors of Medicine and Surgery Degrees from the University of Oxford, Christ Church in 1969. In 1973 he passed exams to enter the Royal Colleges Physicians of the UK, in 1976 the Royal College of Physicians of London awarded him a Diploma in Medical Radio-Diagnosis, and in 1978 he was admitted as a Fellow of the Royal College of Radiologists.

Whilst studying for the later exam in 1977 in London, he found a lost soprano with no sense of direction from Minnesota, Dorothy Eschweiler, who later became his wife of 46 years. Married in 1979, he dutifully followed her career which took him from London to all parts of the UK and eventually Germany, always helping her find her way home. Although separated by ten years, they combined their mid-life crisis into one and moved to the USA after Ian completed one last exam, the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates. He continued to support her career as she gained her Doctorate in Music from ASU, took a university position in Texas, and subsequently taught for 20 years in Virginia.

Having taken early retirement, Ian nonetheless continued to use his encyclopedic knowledge of medicine to help friends and relatives deal with medical problems, culminating in 2025 with an opinion of an x-ray of a friend’s broken shoulder blade of, “Oh shit. That’s bad.”

Early retirement gave him an opportunity to pursue activities and projects. His love of classic, moderately priced sport cars meant that when he gave up his Ginetta in the UK, he researched and bought a Toyota MR2 in the USA. After the first blue MR2 was totaled in an accident he found a second red one, had another accident, but managed to return it to pristine condition, happy to take guests out to see the Shenandoah Valley. A self-taught guitarist, he joined a retirement jazz band and enjoyed jamming with folk music groups. As life-long member of the Oxford Union Society, he returned for a class reunion (gaudy) in black tie and academic gown, proudly posing on the steps where the first Harry Potter movie was filmed.

By far his most beloved activity was cycling. In 1958 he earned a Cycling Proficiency Certificate from The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, Cyclist Touring Club, and the National Cyclists’ Union, proving he was entitled to wear the Cycling Proficiency Badge that demonstrated he had “the ability to ride and control a bicycle on the roads safely and proficiently.” As a young man he bicycled to Cornwall and Paris, France. In 2017 he cycled alone across the USA from Virginia to San Francisco. He used the bicycle every morning as a form of exercise, continuing in all weathers in Saint Paul, Minnesota, up until two months before his death.

With his diagnosis in late 2023, his medical knowledge gave him a unique perspective on his very rare type of cancer. He was fascinated by its’ development and prognosis. Working with some of the world’s brightest minds at Mayo Clinic filled him with wonder, curiosity, and often amazement about the new technologies and experiences they could share with him. He sent monthly reports to his local GP David Rossmuller, and when the time came for hospice care he took his own vital signs every day, making the nurses at Hospice of the Midwest pleased to have an easy patient. He was grateful to them all for his care and treatment.

Preceded in death by his parents, his brother Collin Maddison and sister Karen Frost, he is survived by his wife Dorothy Maddison and his sister, Gaye Whippey, as well as numerous nieces and nephews, most of who came for a family reunion in November of 2025 in Saint Paul before his death, showering him with love and attention: Alan Frost, Hugh and Andrew Maddison, Anne-Marie Young, Caroline and Catherine Whippey and Elizabeth Pooley.

Friends who supported him during his last years in Minnesota included his best man, John Sauke, Jane Strauman and her daughters Angela and Elise. When asked by Elise if he had any advice for her, he replied, “Logic is a useful tool, but friendship limits its’ application.”

There will be no planned services. Ian’s family and friends will be celebrating his life privately.