Missing you Dad. Love, Claire

I just went through all of the wonderful pictures of Curtis, what a man and what a life!

One year without your arms;
One year without your brain;
One year without your charms;
One year without you, My Darling Curtis
And One Year of GRATITUDE
   For ALL that we shared
Re-Membered, Re-Visited, Re-Lived
❤️‍❤️‍❤️‍❤️‍❤️‍❤️‍❤️‍❤️‍

Salt! Why salt you might ask? I met Curtis as part of Suzie’s process to discover my “spider”. He started our meeting with a question “Steve how would you market salt?” knowing that I am a marketer by profession. I was thrown back by the question as it was of out of left field. And at the same time, it’s a great question for a marketer, if you can figure out how to market something as common as salt, you can market anything! This is exactly why Curtis asked this bold and simple question out of the gate. That in short is why my first meeting with Curtis was a foreshadow of future gatherings with me thereafter. He always asked thoughtful insightful questions that were so on point. Curtis had that spark to constantly inspire, 'wow' and help everyone around him grow. I miss him

Grandpa Curtis was such a lovely man - he was always so kind and caring. I loved having him in my life, and getting to see how happy him and Grandma Suzie were together. I was so grateful to have him at Kenny and I's wedding. Love, Kelly and Kenny Miller

Every memory of Curtis features his bright smile and genuine kindness. I am grateful for the moments shared with him, and for the love he brought to Suzie and our family. He will be missed.

What a wonderful life Curtis had and looking at all the wonderful photos of his life are so uplifting. He brought such joy and love to so many people which is what we want from a human being. I am so happy to have known him.

I am so sorry about the great loss of Curtis. Curtis has always been the true definition of a Gentleman to me. Always interested in you, he gave you his full attention. His gentle demeanor was always a comfort. He was very entertained by my daughters when they were young, and was very interested in their schooling and goals, and it touched my heart. We met for lunch one day with my daughter Megan who was newly attending college, and Curtis was genuinely interested in everything about the classes, and why she was studying what she was, and her plans. You don't really find that too often. Curtis and Suzie flew to Omaha for our daughters Kelly's wedding and we had the best time. So glad to celebrate together as a family. Tom and I had the great pleasure of seeing Curtis and Suzie, right before Covid, and it was such a great time. Even though Curtis had had some trials, he was 100% amazing. A time I will treasure forever. His love for Suzie, and Suzie's love for him, is a rare and beautiful love that I was happy to witness yet again. Love You, Curtis!

I met Curtis 40 years ago when my husband made the very wise decision to work with him at his lab. 
Always a gentleman, so well read, interested in many subjects and incredibly knowledgeable. Curtis has been the only person who’s ever delighted me by calling me by my real name, in his most charming drawl. He was able to discuss poetry and literature with a depth of understanding unsurpassed by anyone else including my language professors! He always made me feel welcomed, understood, and appreciated. The curiosity he exhibited and the twinkle in his eyes, especially when he looked at the love of his life, Suzie, was truly special to behold. I believe and more importantly feel that the divine energy which defined his earthly presence continues in those lives he touched. 
I’m very honored and humbled by having had the good fortune to know him. I can still hear him greeting me with “Hello Rosalba” …. his physical presence will be profoundly missed.
Rose

Curtis was a father figure and mentor to me for 40 years. I first met him soon after I joined UCSF as a resident in 1980. I will never forget entering his office on the 12th floor of Moffitt Hospital and meeting a tall and cordial professor surrounded by piles of scientific papers teetering on every surface including the floor around his chair. It reminded me of the “filing system” of another famous medical professor I met when I was a visiting medical student at UT Southwestern,  the legendary Dr. Donald Seldin. The main difference was that Curtis was tall like a basketball player and towered over the stacks of reprints whereas Dr. Seldin was short like a jockey and nearly hidden by the mounds of paper.  The other difference was that Curtis had a Texas drawl and Dr. Seldin had an East coast accent. Both were brilliant scientists.

Entering into Curtis’s office turned out to be a life-long opportunity to learn from a gentle genius.  His breadth of knowledge of both scientific and non-scientific topics was extraordinary. I had the good fortune of spending countless hours learning from him about a multitude of subjects including clinical investigation, the English language, jazz, Southern authors, history, sports figures, New Yorker cartoons, and all things Texas. He was a true renaissance man. While steeped in literature, science, and the arts, he also enjoyed telling stories about colorful politicians like Texas Governor Pappy O’Daniel, and marveled at the success of the Longview Lobos, his high school football team. 

Curtis had a witty sense of humor that seemed connected to his appreciation of the follies and foibles of all sorts of people ranging from East Texas roustabouts to Harvard professors. He enjoyed imitating the haughty New England academics at the illustrious Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) who feigned amused surprise when someone trained in Galveston showed up to interview for a position in their residency and fellowship training program. They put him through the wringer and despite answering all their obscure scientific questions, Curtis was not accepted into the program. Years later, he returned to Boston as a UCSF Professor and head of an NIH site visit team to review the MGH program in clinical research. Before presenting the findings of the site visit inspectors, he told the local investigators  that MGH had rejected his application for residency but he was not going to hold that against them in the program review. I suspect there was some nervous laughter from the MGH team but they had nothing to fear because Curtis was an eminently fair and kind scientist without a sliver of vengeance or jealousy in his body.  I never heard him say a harsh word about anyone including his fiercest scientific competitors. 

Despite facing serious medical issues over the past few years, Curtis also never complained about any of his health problems. Whenever I asked him how he was doing, he would always say “Pretty good for an old man” and would quickly follow-up with a question about our latest manuscript or research study. Just a week before Curtis passed away, he asked me for an update on an experiment that we recently started and was pleased to hear that the work was on track.  As always, he was looking forward to seeing the results and working on the anticipated manuscript. Curtis was a cherished friend and the epitome of a gentleman and a scholar. I miss him dearly.

David and I had known Curtis from his early residency days at UC Hospital in San Francisco. His charm, his intelligence, his humor, his wisdom and warmth and devotion to his children were apparent from the beginning. When many years later he introduced us to Suzie we sensed Curtis was entering a new and fabulous chapter in his life. Like all their friends, we were privileged and thrilled to watch their lives together unfold and to share in the many imaginative and festive gatherings Suzie created. 

Curtis let us know that he wasn't just from Texas, he was from LONGVIEW Texas. We can hear his voice as I write. Longview, Curtis let it be known, was a mixture of urban big city and rural folksy small town; it had its own independent way of viewing things. Those attributes persisted in Curtis and may have accounted for his originality of thought and personality.

As a scientist, Curtis had ceaseless curiosity and a skepticism of received wisdom. A common reaction to someone's pronouncement would be to pause, come close, and ask "Is that so?" That friendly skepticism made him an outstanding scientist.

Curtis took note of my love of salt. Salt was the main focus of his research. While others focused on the sodium, Curtis attended more to the chloride or, as someone remarked, "He put the chloride back in sodium chloride." His research in this sphere, much of it with Tony Sebastian, was critical in understanding the role of salt in health and illness.

To think of Curtis is to think of Suzie, who gave him his greatest happiness. We convey to her and to all of his family our heartfelt condolences.

David and Kay Werdegar

What a beautiful memorial service in photos, bringing to life an endlessly vibrant, creative, warm, playful, and serious love story of Suzie and Curtis and their loving family.

Curtis lives on in my heart. His was a gentleman, to be sure. Always charming and always ready for a lively conversation offering interesting insights, probing questions, wry humor, and quiet warmth.

I will always cherish memories of dinners and lunches with Suzie and Curtis - en famille, out and about, and on Zoom - combining our love of music and literature with interesting developments in medical devices and Suzie’s take on the latest in the tech and fashion worlds. We never ran out of things to talk about!

Curtis’s was a life well lived to the very end – seeing even the pandemic as worthy of his gratitude for his final honeymoon with Suzie. I feel privileged to have been among his friends.

Sharing a few thoughts on August 14, 2021, which would have been Curtis’s 90th birthday. Some say 90 is a long life well-lived but he had much more to contribute and was taken too soon. He displayed admirable intelligence, knowledge, wisdom, kindness and caring along with many other positives. If a friend had a medical question or condition, Curtis became an advocate to the patient and a colleague to the patient’s doctor - and he checked in regularly.  A memorable skill to those who knew him was his precise choice of words to convey exact and unambiguous thoughts (although he sometimes used that same skill to deliver deliberate ambiguity).  If I had never known Curtis, I would have missed hearing about Longview, Texas and the Longview Lens. Curtis is missed.  Suzie, Claire, Tony and family are in our thoughts and prayers.

It was a lucky day for us when we met Curtis and Suzie at a dinner party. Suzie, the beautiful, smart, woman who makes everything fun with her zest for life and creative soul. Curtis and Suzie were a perfect match: she blew joy into their everyday and Curtis brought his magnificent heart, incredible intelligence, sweetness and sense of humor that lived there too. He cherished and was mad about Suzie, so loved his children and grandchildren. It was a pleasure to see.
He was such a devoted friend to both Maiers and a best man to man friend with Peter. He came to poetry readings with Suzie to cheer Melanie on and was always there for Peter. His sweet nature, and unassuming way was so endearing. He will be missed always. His life was a blessing.
Sending much love to Suzie, Claire, and Tony, Melanie and Peter 

I will always remember your talking to the Forum on Fashion. We invite Curtis to join us at the Menlo Circus Club. As you were talking, he just looked at you with the most adoring expression - it was obvious how very much he loved you. You were a special match. I am so glad I got to meet him.
Big hug,
Nancy

Dearest Suzie, When this came up, I thought of a million little things to say about how sweet, smart, genuine, charming, thoughtful, and caring Curtis was in every interaction I had with him. However, I really loved that he loved you so devotedly. He appreciated who you are and enjoyed the fun and love you brought into his life. I LOVE him most for Loving you and sharing some amazing times together. I know it was too short, but you have a lot of angels in heaven looking over you. Part of loving is knowing that some day it will change (no one knows that as well as you do). Your love with Curtis is still there and you can move through life knowing you were loved so very specially. Love you sooo much, Shannon

Curtis was a True Gentleman. Yes, a Gentle Man of intelligence and heart the size of his home state, Texas. When he smiled, the Eyes of Texas were, indeed, upon you...all that, combined with his golden spirit to match his adopted California community. It was a privilege to share his Light and Enlightenment.

And oh how he adored his sensational Suzie and his wonderful family. He shall be deeply missed by this newer friend and all who owned his heart.
Comfort and Love, Lynn

How vivid he is in my mind and heart! What a wonderful man; so gentle, smart and compassionate. His modesty about his own accomplishments was a real lesson in how to live life. And, then there was that smile, the laugh and the sparkle. I was always uplifted to be around him, and his love for Suzie and Claire was a beacon of light. To have to say a final earthly goodbye is so sad, but I know he will be forever in the hearts of those who loved him in life. It was a privilege to count him as a friend.

Curtis Morris was such a special man. And, how lucky he was to be surrounded by such a special family, whom he loved so dearly. So much could be learned from his gentle and intelligent manner. For all the years I knew him, I never knew him to be anything but kind and so very caring. His darling wife, Suzie and his special daughter, Claire were the world to him. 
I am so sorry that in the past couple of years, I never got to see him to tell him how wonderful he was. There are very few people like him. 
Curtis, you will be missed 

I'm so sad that Curtis has passed on. I last saw him at a dinner, just before the Covid shutdown. I first saw Curtis present at a scientific meeting in 1967, he was already famous and I was starting in Nephrology as Postdoc ( I was in the audience). I remember thinking "how brilliant this person is". Many years late, in 1974 when I first came to Stanford, I attended the UCSF Nephrology Research Conferences and Curtis was regular attender. But we didnt have any relationship at that time. In 1980, I joined the UCSF faculty. I had developed an interest in something called NMR (later to be called MRI) and I was interested in finding ways to change the intracellular phosphate and ph levels of kidney and liver. Curtis had done a lot of work on the effects of fructose loading, and this seemed to be a good model for my work with NMR. This launched a collaboration which led to several publications. Curtis took a strong interest in my work, and became a mentor to me (I'm 9 years younger). He helped me write some grants, and provided mentoring advise concerning dealing with UCSF politics since I was trying to raise funds and obtain space to develop a MRI Center. This would have been one of the first MRI Centers in the world!! Specifically, we were negotiating with Phillips Medical on a deal worth $8 million, and there was an upcomming meeting in Washington DC. I believe that Curtis had inherited a membership in a private club (was it called the Metropolitan club?) in DC and he arranged an elegant dinner with UCSF leaders and Philips Medical people. This led to a successful gift of $8 million worth of MRI equipment and support to our program at UCSF. It was one of the first MRI research centers at any university in the world. It also launched my new career out of nephrology, into the world of MRI.
Around that time Floyd Rector, another Texan, (who was also one of my other mentors) became Chair of Medicine at UCSF. We arranged a celebration dinner with Curtis, Floyd, Morrie Schamblan, and Henry Bourne. We called ourselves the Gang of 5. We had so much fun drinking and gossiping that we started having dinner at great restaurants with lots of food and drink 4x/year.
For some reason, I always remember Curtis ordering Sand Dabs, while I was ordering steak. These dinners became annual dinners and we continue them to this day.
When Curtis met Suzie, and then told us of his upcomming Wedding, we insisted on organizing a batchelor party, at the North Beach Restaurant. It was a hilarious evening. I had taken up a collection and the best gift we could think of was a silk "smoking robe". I knew that Curtis didnt smoke, but it was a very handsome silk robe. I never knew if Curtis actually ever used this, but it seemed a very fitting gift at the time.
Curtis was like a watchful older brother to me. He was a friend and a mentor.
Without question he was a gentleman, very kind, always paying attention to details, never rushing (in great contrast to me). His approach to science matched his personality, very methodical, never rushed, very objective (again in contrast to me. I'm always in a rush, and I've very intuitive in my science).
We shared many interests: We were both fans of Robert Caro's books on LBJ (still waiting for the last one to emerge) and James Baker (of Longview).Curtis had spent time in NY , and I'm a NY er. We all care about science, medicine, and academic values: truth and helping others. He often spoke of his family, I remember that his son was ,at one time witing musicals, and then went into the world of finance (at least this is my recollection).
It was very sad when Curtis had his accident and head injury, and so rewarding to see his recovery. Suzie has been such a fantastic support.
Those of us remaining in the gang of 5: Floyd, Morrie, Henry, and I , really miss Curtis and extend our condolences to Suzie and his family.
Mike Weiner