Robert Cade

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Robert Cade bigraphy, stories - American medical doctor, physiologist, nephrologist, university professor, philanthropist, inventor of Gatorade

Robert Cade : biography

September 26, 1927 – November 27, 2007

James Robert Cade (September 26, 1927 – November 27, 2007) was an American physician, university professor, research scientist and inventor. Cade, a native of Texas, earned his undergraduate and medical degrees, and became a professor of medicine and nephrology at the University of Florida. Although Cade engaged in many areas of medical research, he is widely remembered as the leader of the research team that formulated the sports drink Gatorade.Arline Phillips-Han, "," Health Science Center News, University of Florida (February 24, 2003). Retrieved February 17, 2010.

Early life and education

Robert Cade was born in San Antonio, Texas on September 26, 1927.Douglas Martin, "," The New York Times (November 28, 2007). Retrieved February 17, 2010. He was a fourth-generation Texan.Samuel Proctor, , Samuel Proctor Oral History Project, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, p. 4 (1996). Retrieved March 15, 2012. Cade took an early interest in athletics, and ran the mile in four minutes, twenty seconds at Brackenridge high school, a very respectable time for a high school athlete in the early 1940s.By way of comparison, Roger Bannister, a British track and field athlete who was the world record-holder in the mile run in the early 1950s and the first to run the mile in less than four minutes, did not do so until 1954. He graduated from Brackenridge high school in May 1945, and served in the U.S. Navy as a pharmacist’s mate during the last months of World War II through 1948.Proctor, , pp. 4–9. After being discharged from the navy, he enrolled in the University of Texas.Associated Press, "," USA Today (November 27, 2007). Retrieved February 17, 2010. He completed four years of undergraduate coursework in two calendar years, and graduated with his bachelor’s degree in 1950.Proctor, , pp. 11–14, 16. In 1953, he married Mary Strasburger, a nurse from Dallas, Texas, whom he had met while he was in medical school.Proctor, , p. 15.The Cade Museum for Innovation and Invention, The History, . Retrieved March 22, 2010 After graduating with his doctor of medicine degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas in 1954, Cade interned at the Saint Louis City Hospital in Saint Louis, Missouri and did his residency at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. He also served fellowships at his alma mater, Southwestern Medical School, and Cornell University Medical College in New York, New York. In 1961, Cade joined the faculty of the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville, Florida, as an assistant professor of internal medicine in its renal division.Proctor, , pp. 39–43.

Legacy

Through 2007, the University of Florida has realized over $150 million from its share of the Gatorade royalties.Jack Stripling, "," The Gainesville Sun (November 27, 2007). Retrieved March 16, 2012.The University of Florida has since become one of the largest public research universities in the United States, and derives significant annual income from the patent royalties generated by the inventions of its professors and other research staff. See, e.g., Mike Thomas, "," Orlando Sentinel (May 7, 1989). Retrieved February 17, 2010. Cade and his associates’ share of the royalties is undisclosed, the majority of their rights having been sold to Stokely-Van Camp. After the settlement, Cade continued to work for the university, and the college of medicine named him professor emeritus of nephrology upon his retirement in 2004. In April 2007, several months before his death, the University Athletic Association inducted Cade into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as an "honorary letter winner."F Club, Hall of Fame, . Retrieved June 24, 2010.

Gatorade, now owned by PepsiCo, is today sold in some eighty countries and over fifty various flavors. In stark contrast to the forty-three dollars that Cade and his team spent to make the first experimental batch of Gatorade in 1965, Gatorade prompted the evolution of a multi-billion dollar sports drink industry in the years that followed; as of 2007, over seven billion bottles of Gatorade were being sold annually in the United States.Neil Amdur, "," The New York Times (December 2, 2007). Retrieved March 16, 2002. While he was surprised by its commercial success as a sports drink, Cade took greater pride in Gatorade’s use in hospitals, in post-operative recovery and to treat diarrhea in children.Charles Fishman, "," Orlando Sentinel (May 24, 1992). Retrieved February 18, 2010. Cade’s other research included hypertension, exercise physiology, autism, schizophrenia and kidney disease. His research into carbo-loading substantiated the early claims of Swedish researchers, and he also invented a hydraulic football helmet that substantially reduced the risk of concussion to football players.Proctor, , pp. 101–103.