Antonio Ph.D.

MADISON - Dr. Antonio E. Col�s, M.D., Ph.D. of Madison died April 9, 2014 in Madison, Wisconsin, attended by loved ones. He was preceded in death by his parents, Pedro and Antonia Col�s, four siblings, Sarita, Angel, Arturo, and Josefina of Zaragoza, Spain and by his son-in-law, Randy Trainor of Waukesha, Wisconsin. He is survived by his wife Mar�a Inmaculada of Madison, his children Antonio P. Col�s of Madison, Juan and Amy Col�s also of Madison, Mar�a (Chinca) Trainor of Waukesha, and Yago Col�s and Claire Solomon of Oberlin, Ohio, and by grandchildren, Rodrigo Keller-Col�s, Fernando Keller-Col�s, Elena Col�s, Eva Col�s, Grace Col�s, and Adam Col�s.
Curious, passionate and energetic, Antonio lived a life filled with adventure. He received his B.S. in medicine from the University of Zaragoza in 1951, his M.D. from the University of Madrid in 1953 and his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Edinburgh. Antonio then continued his investigative career with teaching and research posts at the University of Salamanca, Spain, the University of el Valle, Colombia, the University of Oregon Medical School and the University of Wisconsin Medical school, where he enjoyed a productive career as a researcher and mentor to graduate students whose affection and esteem for Professor Col�s they demonstrated by remaining in contact with him to the end of his life. He was also honored by a distinguished visiting professorship at the University of Zaragoza a quarter century after receiving his degree there. Upon retirement, he extended his intellectual gifts in service to the Madison community for over a decade as a medical interpreter and a reader for the blind.
His appetite for understanding was not limited to his professional specialty as a biochemist. It prompted him more broadly to remain informed about current events around the world, to read voraciously from politics to philosophy, from education to the environment to economics, from history to religion. He reflected deeply and independently and relished extended and animated discussions and debates. All his family knew that Antonio would respond intelligently and eruditely to whatever currently held their interest. There seemed to be no matter or experience, no issue or area of human experience about which Antonio was not curious and informed. As the Roman playwright Terence once said (in the Latin Antonio knew well and was fond of quoting): "humanum nihil a me alienum puto" or "nothing human is foreign to me." For Antonio not only the human world but also the natural world comprised the native land of his extraordinary mind.
Antonio was an eager and seasoned traveler and explorer. Born in the village of Muel, in Aragon, Spain in 1928, Antonio's family moved briefly to Barcelona, Spain before settling in Zaragoza, Spain. His studies and professional opportunities afforded him the experience of living in three continents and traveling and exploring extensively in all of them, both with his young family and, after his children were grown, with his wife. After completing his medical training in Spain, he pursued his doctoral degree in Edinburgh, Scotland. He then taught at the historic University of Salamanca, Spain before moving in 1957 with his wife and his infant son Antonio to Cali, Colombia to establish a university department of biochemistry, where first Juan and then Mar�a (Chinca) were born. The family enjoyed an active life including swimming, hiking, and exploring the natural and historical surroundings of Cali. In 1962, the family moved again, to the United States, where Antonio accepted a position on the faculty at the University of Oregon Medical School in Portland. There again, as his wife and three children learned a new language and the ways of yet another new land, Antonio led them on excursions along the Pacific Coast and in the forests of Northern Oregon. In 1968, the family, with the new addition of their youngest son Yago, born in Portland, made the cross-country journey to Madison where Antonio taught in the UW Medical School. Though the family did not move again, the adventures continued with extensive travels to National Parks throughout the United States. Their children grown, Antonio and his wife continued to explore territories, both new--such as the deserts of New Mexico--and familiar, such as their native Spain. An avid photographer, Antonio meticulously documented his family's travels across three continents with slides, pictures, and film. He loved to drive the open spaces of the West and to his final days cherished both precious memories of these journeys and powerful hopes to undertake them yet again.
His greatest adventure was his love affair of nearly seventy years with his beloved and cherished wife, Mar�a, or Inma as he called her. They fondly recounted to children and grandchildren their first encounter, when Antonio first showed interest while encountering Inma on a stroll through the Paseo de la Independencia, Zaragoza's main boulevard. Antonio hit upon the idea of asking Inma, wearing school uniform and a cape, to open her cape so he could see by the uniform what school she attended. After an extended courtship the couple married on February 24, 1955. While Antonio tended toward a scientific, systematic, and rational outlook, he delighted in Inma's more intuitive and improvisational approach to life. They challenged one another to growth and transformation and, after six decades of travels, trials, and triumphs, they celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary in Madison on February 24, 2014.
The family thanks the staff of Attic Angel Place and Agrace Hospice for their attentive care.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 16, 2014 at ST. MARIA GORETTI CATHOLIC CHURCH, 5313 Flad Avenue, Madison. A visitation will be held at church on Wednesday at beginning at 9:30 a.m., with Words of Sharing at 10:15 a.m.
Memorial donations may be made to Ramas de Caridad, a Waukesha charitable fund, or The Jesuit Partnership, sent in care of Cress Funeral Home.