On Jan. 16, 1964, Dr. Charles T. Dotter at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), considered the father of interventional radiology, performed the world’s first percutaneous transluminal angioplasty, a procedure in which a tapered Teflon catheter was used to open a blocked artery with the help of a live X-ray shown on a television monitor.

The procedure allowed Laura Shaw, an 82-year-old woman to keep her gangrene-ravaged left foot, which was nearly amputated due to a blocked artery. Her pain disappeared within a week and the ulcer soon healed.

Dr. Dotter was an artist, a pilot, a writer, and a showman in a crowd. He infected those around him with a zest for living and experiencing new ideas and new surroundings. As adventurous in his personal life as he was in his pursuit of better treatments, Dr. Dotter climbed all the mountain peaks over 14,000 feet in the continental U.S.