Berton Roueché

Berton Roueché
CDC portrait of Berton Roueché
Born	April 16, 1910 Kansas City, Missouri, United States
Died	April 28, 1994(1994-04-28) (aged 84) Amagansett, New York, United States
Occupation	Journalist, novelist, writer
Nationality	American
Citizenship	United States
Education	Bachelor of Journalism degree from the Missouri School of Journalism
Alma mater	University of Missouri
Period	1944–1991
Genre	Non-fiction, detective, mystery, suspense
Subject	Medical writing, epidemiology, public health, infectious diseases
Notable works	Eleven Blue Men (1954) The Incurable Wound (1958) Feral (1974) The Medical Detectives (1980)
Notable awards	Raven Award – Best Book in a Mystery Field – Mystery Writers of America 1954 Eleven Blue Men Academy Award – Literature – The American Academy of Arts and Letters 1982
Spouse	Katherine Eisenhower Roueché (m. 1936–1994)
Children	Arthur Bradford Roueché (b. 1942)
Relatives	Colonel Mossman Roueché (brother)

Berton Roueché (/ruːˈʃeɪ/ roo-SHAY; April 16, 1910 – April 28, 1994) was a medical writer who wrote for The New Yorker magazine for almost fifty years. He also wrote twenty books, including Eleven Blue Men (1954), The Incurable Wound (1958), Feral (1974), and The Medical Detectives (1980). An article he wrote for The New Yorker was made into the 1956 film Bigger Than Life, and many of the medical mysteries on the television show House were inspired by Roueché's writings.

Berton Roueché was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on April 16, 1910. He graduated from Southwest High School in Kansas City in 1928 and is a member of the Southwest High School Hall of Fame. He received an undergraduate journalism degree at the University of Missouri in 1933. He was a reporter for The Kansas City Star, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. On October 28, 1936, he married Katherine Eisenhower, the niece of future U.S. President General Dwight D. Eisenhower. She remained his wife until his death in 1994. They had one child, Arthur Bradford Roueché, who was born November 16, 1942.

In 1944, he was hired as a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine. In 1946, "The Annals of Medicine" department of the magazine was created for him. "The Annals of Medicine" is a series about medical detection and the fight against different diseases. An article he wrote for The New Yorker, titled "Ten Feet Tall", was made into a 1956 film called Bigger Than Life, which stars James Mason. The article and film are about the negative side effects of the drug cortisone. Roueché remained a staff writer for The New Yorker until his death, a span of about fifty years.