It was a historic occasion. In April 1951, a new organization called MDA sponsored its first medical conference on neuromuscular diseases at the Hotel Statler in New York City. Dr. S. Mouchly Small, a physician and scientist from Buffalo, N.Y., walked to the podium to speak on "Emotional Reactions to Disability."

With those fateful steps, Small began an intense volunteer association with MDA that would last until his death last December [1996] from pancreatic cancer.

Small -- Saul to his friends -- earned his bachelor of science degree at City College of New York in 1933 and his medical degree in 1937 at Cornell University. He went on to be certified in psychiatry and psychoanalysis.

Small would hold many posts, including professor and chairman at the Department of Psychiatry at State University of New York in Buffalo and director of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He treated countless patients, authored more than 100 articles and chapters related to psychiatry, and served as a consultant to the Defense Department and other government agencies.

Through all this, Small never abandoned an early interest in neuromuscular disorders which began while he was a student at Cornell. This interest intensified when Small undertook research with neuromuscular disease pioneer Dr. Ade T. Milhorat at New York Hospital in the 1930s and 1940s.

A few years later, after Milhorat helped found MDA with Paul Cohen, Small spoke at MDA's inaugural medical conference and subsequently agreed to serve as a founding member of MDA's Medical Advisory Board, the precursor to MDA's present-day Scientific Advisory Committee.

"He bridged the human aspects of the disease and the physical aspects in a unique way," said Dr. Leon I. Charash, chairman of MDA's Medical Advisory Committee. "Although his grasp of science was impressive, he always emphasized the importance of the feelings and emotional well-being of the people MDA serves."

Small provided an intense dedication and constant involvement in MDA's affairs from the early days onward. He never missed a meeting or put off a request for assistance from MDA staff.

"He was a wonderful friend, someone I could always depend on for counsel and moral encouragement," said MDA Senior Vice President and Executive Director Robert Ross.

Ross recalls feeling uncertainty about the Association's future when Cohen died in 1968. "Dr. Small assured me MDA would weather this crisis, which of course it did. And he made a promise that, from that moment forward, he would always be available when MDA needed him. He remained true to that promise until his death."

Over the years, Small's volunteer involvement with MDA grew to include such roles as MDA corporate member, Board of Directors member, Scientific Advisory Committee chairman and member of MDA's National Executive Research Advisory Council. In 1980 he was elected president of the Association, a position he would hold through 1989.

Because he was a scientist himself, during his years as president, Small was able to make quick and informed decisions as to the direction of MDA's research program. Those years were fruitful ones for MDA research. In 1986, researchers funded by MDA discovered the gene that, when defective, causes Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Small hailed the finding as "...a stunning victory that has rewritten medical history."

In later years, Small's MDA titles included chairman of the Executive Committee and president emeritus. Small was diagnosed with cancer last year and died on Dec. 20 [1996], leaving behind his wife, Sophie, four children and several grandchildren.

To honor him, the University of Buffalo has created the S. Mouchly Small Education Center at Erie County Medical Center. MDA has established the S. Mouchly Small Scientific Achievement Award, an honor that will be presented annually on the Telethon to an MDA researcher whose work shows particular promise. MDA is also designating two research fellowships in Small's name and is officially dedicating the research and program services area of MDA 's Tucson headquarters to Small's memory.

"Dr. Small always gave MDA the best benefit of his intelligence and his compassion," said MDA President Robert M. Bennett. "He'll be greatly missed."

"It's hard to picture MDA without him," Ross said. "But I know that the imprint of his character and his humanity will remain on everything we do."