Obituary of David Elmer Richard Sutherland

Dr. David Elmer Sutherland, Ph.D., age 84, of Saint Louis Park, passed away on March 23, 2025.  He will be deeply missed by his loving wife of 28 years, Vanesa Sutherland; his son, Richard Sutherland;daughter, Lara Sutherland; grandson, Ethan Sutherland; many relatives and good friends.  A summary of the many seminal achievements of his distinguished career does justice to only part of David Sutherland’s personality. Equally important, he was a great human being who cared deeply for his patients, suffered tremendously with them in case of setbacks, and relished their successes. He performed transplants in thousands of diabetic patients, many of whom became insulin-independent and dialysis-free for the rest of their lives. He trained transplant surgeons and physicians from all over the world and laid the foundation for the field of pancreas transplantation the way it has developed. His own curiosity, ingenuity, and willingness to think outside the box were legendary; as he said, “true scholars don’t practice evidence-based medicine, they perform evidence-gathering medicine.” He came up with clinical and research solutions for improbable challenges. His laboratory gave a myriad of research scientists the opportunity to explore new frontiers in the field of beta-cell replacement through transplantation and immunology. Many of his trainees moved on to become directors of large pancreas transplant programs, chiefs of transplantation, or department chairs. He earned tremendous respect and admiration from his peers, patients and students – while remaining a truly humble, modest, empathetic, and gracious human being with a great sense of humor. Despite becoming one of the greatest surgeons of the second half of the 20th century, he never forgot his Minnesota roots, nor his many interests in nonmedical fields such as American history and literature, classical music, baseball and horticulture with a particular focus on the cultiviation and frustration of the tomato variants.

A Celebration of Life will be held 2pm Sunday, May 4th at Cremation Society of Minnesota, 7110 France Avenue S., Edina with gathering time for family and friends at 1pm.