On Sept. 20, 2018, bodywork expert, author and educator Leon Chaitow, ND, DO, passed away at age 80.
Born in South Africa in 1937, Chaitow moved to the United Kingdom in 1956. He graduated from the British College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1960, then studied acupuncture, cranial osteopathy and orthomolecular nutrition, according to his Handspring Publishing author’s biography.
He is the author of more than 60 books on natural health and complementary medicine, including Palpation and Assessment in Manual Therapy and the new second edition of Fascial Dysfunction: Manual Therapy Approaches.
Chaitow was also co-editor of the book Fascia: The Tensional Network of the Human Body, and the founding editor and editor in chief of the peer-reviewed publication Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies.
“Leon Chaitow was a respected colleague, and the fields of massage and complementary health are better for his contributions,” said Karen Menehan, editor in chief of MASSAGE Magazine. “He wrote for both the professional and layperson, striving to advance healthcare and the understanding of complementary therapies.”
Chaitow is survived by his wife Alkmini and his daughter, Sasha Chaitow, PhD.
On her Facebook page, Sasha Chaitow wrote, “In the few months that he was ill, he was able to complete his last book, Fascial Dysfunction 2e, soon to be released … for those of you who knew him well, please know that, in the words of Dylan Thomas, Leon raged like few against the dying of the light and did not go gentle into that good night.
“His legacy lives on in his many books and articles, in the students he taught, in the patients he treated, and in the family to whom he was a most beloved husband and father … the greatest way to honour him is to continue to carry that torch.”