Thomas Noguchi
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Thomas T. Noguchi, born in 1926 in Japan, was the Chief Medical Examiner / Coroner for the County of Los Angeles from 1967 to 1982. Known as the "coroner to the stars" he determined the cause of death in many high profile cases.
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[edit] Career
Noguchi graduated from Tokyo's Nippon Medical School in 1951 before interning at Tokyo University Hospital. Shortly thereafter he immigrated to the United States. He then served a second internship at Orange County General Hospital and a series of residencies at Loma Linda University School of Medicine, and Barlow Sanatorium in Los Angeles. He was appointed a deputy coroner for Los Angeles County in 1961. In 1967 he became Chief Medical Examiner (CME) for the county. It was in this role that Noguchi came to public attention for a series of autopsies he either performed or supervised on a range of celebrities that included Marilyn Monroe, Robert F. Kennedy, Janis Joplin, Albert Dekker, William Holden, John Belushi, Natalie Wood, and Sharon Tate.
He developed a high profile as CME, and was often accused of speaking too freely to the media, which led to his ultimately being forced to step down from his position in 1982. He was later appointed Chief of Pathology at the University of Southern California and then as Administrative Pathologist for Anatomic Pathology services at the USC Medical Center.
Noguchi has been appointed Professor by both the University of Southern California and UCLA. He is a past president of the American National Association of Medical Examiners. In 1999 he was honored by the Emperor of Japan who awarded him the Order of the Sacred Treasures for "outstanding contribution to Japan in the area of forensic science".[1] He retired the same year.
[edit] Trivia
- He is said to have been the inspiration for the TV series Quincy, M.E. (1976-1983), which starred Jack Klugman. [2]
- Noguchi actually occupies an entire category in the Playstation 2 game, "Jeopardy".
[edit] Publications
- Coroner, 1983. A best selling memoir written with Joseph DiMona. (Published in the UK as Coroner to the Stars)
- Coroner at Large 1985. A book about historical coroners and famous deaths. (NYT review.)
- Unnatural Causes, 1988. A detective novel written with Arthur Lyons.
- Physical Evidence, 1990. A detective novel written with Arthur Lyons.
[edit] Film
He appeared as himself in the films Faces of Death (1978), and The Killing Of America (1981).
In 2000, Noguchi appeared in Michael Kriegsman's autopsy-related documentaries, "Autopsy: Through the Eyes of Death's Detectives"; and "Autopsy: Voices of Death", wherein Dr. Noguchi takes the viewer through a complete autopsy.
