David Pall

David Boris Pall (2 April 1914 - 21 September 2004), founder of Pall Corporation, was the chemist who invented the Pall filter used in blood transfusions.

Born in Thunder Bay, Ontario of Russian immigrant parents, he grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan, and attended McGill University, from which he was granted a bachelor's degree in chemistry and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry. He moved to New York in 1938 and became a part of the Manhattan Project.  In 1946, he established Pall Corporation.  The company's initial focus was on the development of filters for use in aircraft hydraulics. 

However, in 1959, when  Dr. Pall's first wife, Josephine, died of aplastic anemia, he began to work on the Pall filter.  Mrs. Pall had undergone multiple blood transfusions in the course of an illness, which were ultimately unsuccessful.  The Pall filter makes blood transfusions significantly safer by filtering out white blood cells, thereby reducing the incidence of transfusion reactions and viral infections.  Today, Pall Corporation has sales in excess of $2.0 Billion.

In his lifetime, Dr. Pall received over 180 patents and in 1990, he received the United States National Medal of Technology from President George H.W. Bush.David B. Pall, 90; Invented Filters for Blood

Pall, a trustee of the North Shore University Hospital, died of complications of Alzheimer's disease at his last home in Roslyn Estates, New York.  

References

Category:1914 births
Category:2004 deaths
Category:Canadian chemists