Our friend, mentor, and educator, Dr Sushil S. Lacy, passed away on December 6, 2023 at the age of 87. He was known to many of us in the urology community as a clinical expert in urology, with focus areas in pediatrics, urinary infections, and incontinence. He spent the majority of his career in Nebraska, starting in 1970, and was one of the founders of the residency program at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Originally from India, his training pathway brought him through medical school in Vellore, general surgery residency in Lucknow, and then to the United States for a vascular surgery fellowship at Duke University. He then went on to urology training at Baptist Hospital, Wake Forest University. He is survived by his wife, Jane Ellen Gose—known to many in the South Central Section (SCS) of the AUA as a long-term attendee with Sushil (Figure 1).

As a long-term member of the AUA SCS, Dr Lacy served as its president from 1997 to 1998 and hosted the meeting in Cancun, Mexico. Later he became the section’s nomination to be the AUA president for 2011 to 2012. His association service was impressive: AUA board of directors, Urology Care Foundation™ Development Council, AUA committees, president of the American Association of Clinical Urologists, and president of the Nebraska Urological Association.

Leaders of the SCS know him even better as one of the early program mentors for the section for the AUA’s Leadership Program, starting in 2006 through 2017. During the yearlong program, participants would attend a leadership training course at AUA headquarters in Linthicum, Maryland, and then divide up along section representatives into service project teams of the participants and the mentors. Mentors would organize several conference calls during the year to develop the service project and ultimately present the findings to the AUA board of directors. During my participation, our project involved the examination of the concerning trend of violence against urologists. The index cases of concern involved shooting at several urologic clinics. We examined global trends, prevention methods, and partnered with leaders at Kaiser to look at possible solutions. Figure 2 shows our 2015 class and mentor. Broadening the scope, as far as I can tell from the posted online histories, Dr Lacy mentored 16 participants over 12 years, who have all gone on to lead and serve various associations and academic groups (Table and Figure 3). In 2019, he was awarded an AUA Presidential Citation “for exemplary service to the AUA, mentorship of young urologists, and tireless care of urologic patients.”

Table. Sushil Lacy Mentees With the AUA Leadership Program

I want to conclude this tribute to Dr Lacy with a key remembrance of how I think he affected the SCS, and my participation. When you are new to a section (I moved in 2006 from the Mid-Atlantic Section) and don’t know anyone, it makes a big difference when a senior member notices your attendance and reaches out to be welcoming and get to know you. Honestly, for many years until he could not attend due to health reasons, one of my favorite parts of attending our SCS meeting was to catch up with Dr Lacy. Over the years, we have had at least 3 senior urologists who continued to attend post retirement and made efforts to get to know young urologists and encourage participation and leadership—Robert Donahue (Colorado), William Parry (Oklahoma), and Dr Lacy. I think it’s a tremendous legacy that Dr Lacy leaves us with energy and enthusiasm to encourage and mentor young urologists to serve and lead. As of this writing, the SCS leadership is organizing a named academic contest for young writers in his honor—stay tuned.

Last comment, he could make a 4-hour board meeting fun (Figure 4)!