In memoriam: Clayton Daniel Mote, MD (1905-95)

Clayton Mote had a long career as a teacher, scholar and practitioner of medicine. He was noted for his diagnostic skills and rigorous approach to bedside teaching, with emphasis on the physical examination. The author's attitude towards him was a mixture of admiration for his talents and anxiety that one could never quite meet his expectations. People of his kind still have a place in modern academic medicine: they can be leaders and role models, they can integrate the new and the old, and they can inspire those under their tutelage to return to hands-on medicine.