Special Feature Dimitrios G. Oreopoulos—An Appreciation

Fame has only the span of the day, they say, but to live in the hearts of people, that is worth some-thing.—Ouida A much-beloved giant of nephrology passed away in his 76th year on April 25, 2012. Dimitrios G. Oreopoulos had far-reaching influence in his beloved subspecialty and leaves behind a staggering body of work and a staggering number of students, trainees, and patients who grieve his loss. Dimitrios was born in Alexandroupolis, Greece, and was one of five brothers who grew up under impov-erished circumstances. He said that as a very young child his mother could serve only a plate of steamed greens to his father every day for dinner. One day his father, in frustration, threw the plate off the dinner table onto the floor, and Dimitrios the toddler was fascinated to note that the greens remained stuck to the plate bouncing along the floor. Probably as a testament to his brilliance and capacity for hard work, he was admitted to medical school at the University of Athens, where he contin-ued his internship and residency. He received his specialist certificate in internal medicine (nephrology was not yet recognized as a subspecialty) in 1963 and completed his thesis MD the next year. The title of his thesis was “On the Kinetics of Uremic Substances in the Artificial Kidney.” He left Greece and became a renal registrar a