Donald Pearce Shiley (January 19, 1920 – July 31, 2010) was the inventor of the Bjork–Shiley valve, a prosthetic heart valve. He was a 1951 alumnus of the

University of Portland , mottoeng = The truth will set you free , established = 1901 , type = Private university , religious_affiliation = Catholic (Congregation of Holy Cross) , endowment = $218 million , president = Robert D. Kelly , students = 3,731 (fall 20 ...

, where he studied engineering.

Early life

He was born in

Yakima, Washington Yakima ( or ) is a city in and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, and the state's 11th-largest city by population. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 96,968 and a metropolitan population of 256,728. The uninco ...

on January 19, 1920. His family was homesteaders, and followed the fruit harvest; he joined his brothers at harvest time through the years of the Great Depression, but quickly learned that his interest and skill were in “fixing things” on the farm. He said that “I liked machines. I liked the way they are ideas that get built.“ Shiley attended

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...

, the

Land-grant university A land-grant university (also called land-grant college or land-grant institution) is an institution of higher education in the United States designated by a state to receive the benefits of the Morrill Land-Grant Acts, Morrill Acts of 1862 and ...

in Oregon, on a scholarship, but left to join the Navy for service in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After the war, he enrolled at the

, a private Roman Catholic institution, using the

G.I. Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

benefits to study engineering and chemistry. In 1951, he graduated first in his class.

Career

Shiley began working at Edwards Laboratories, located in

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...

, south of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, the first manufacturer of artificial heart-valves. Later he established his own company, Shiley Laboratories, in the same area. His first valve was developed together with the American heart-surgeon Kay, and was the first disc heart-valve. Compared with the Edwards valve, which had the shape of a little ball, the disc valve needed much less space within the heart when implanted. Some years later, Shiley improved his design in cooperation with Swedish heart surgeon

Viking Björk Viking Olov Björk (3 December 1918, Sunnansjö, Dalarna – 18 February 2009) was a Swedish cardiac surgeon. In 1968, he collaborated with American engineer Donald Shiley to develop the Björk–Shiley valve, a mechanical prosthetic heart ...

, which led to the first tilting disc heart-valve, resulting in a much better flow of blood through the valve. Shiley Labs developed and manufactured other products, especially

trachea The trachea, also known as the windpipe, is a Cartilage, cartilaginous tube that connects the larynx to the bronchi of the lungs, allowing the passage of air, and so is present in almost all air-breathing animals with lungs. The trachea extends ...

l and endotracheal tubes for respiration after surgery in the mouth or throat, and during

anesthesia Anesthesia is a state of controlled, temporary loss of sensation or awareness that is induced for medical or veterinary purposes. It may include some or all of analgesia (relief from or prevention of pain), paralysis (muscle relaxation), ...

. The Björk–Shiley heart valve underwent several improvements in the following years, primarily in the degree of opening of the disc, thus reducing turbulence in the bloodstream. Some years later, Shiley decided to sell his company to

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfizer ...

, and retired.

Personal life

Shiley was married twice: to Pat, the mother of his four children and who died in middle-age; and to Darlene Marcos.

Death

Shiley died on July 31, 2010, after deteriorating health. He is survived by his wife, Darlene Marcos, and four children and five grandchildren

Legacy

In March 2007, the Shileys donated $12 million to the University of Portland, for renovating the University's School of Engineering. The grant was the largest the university had ever received. Shiley also made a donation to the

University of San Diego The University of San Diego (USD) is a private Roman Catholic research university in San Diego, California. Chartered in July 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University (comprising the College for Men and Schoo ...

for the Donald P. Shiley Center for Science and Technology. In 2012, Darlene Shiley donated $1 million to MASTERPIECE Trust, the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

fund which supports the "Masterpiece" program series, when the Downton Abbey series brought increased interest in Masterpiece and after the fund had lost a major donor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shiley, Donald American engineers University of Portland alumni 2010 deaths 1920 births Oregon State University alumni United States Navy personnel of World War II