HealthTree Foundation mourns the passing of Dr. Robert A. Kyle, who passed away on September 2, 2026 at the age of 98. Dr. Kyle was a pioneer in multiple myeloma treatment, and thanks to his contributions has been known as the “Father of Multiple Myeloma.”
For more than sixty years, Dr. Kyle led the way in myeloma research. Dr. Kyle was a professor of Medicine, Laboratory Medicine, and Pathology at the Mayo Clinic College in Rochester, MN, and founded the Mayo Clinic’s Myeloma, Amyloidosis, and Dysproteinemia clinic. Dr. Kyle published more than 1,800 scientific papers and abstracts, and through his groundbreaking research, he helped define the terms monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and smoldering myeloma and changed the way smoldering myeloma was diagnosed and treated.
Dr. Kyle’s work in myeloma began when he was an Internal Medicine resident at the Mayo Clinic. As part of his residency, he chose to spend six months in a hematology lab, learning how to read peripheral blood smears and bone marrow aspirates. That decision changed the trajectory of his career. During this internship, Dr. Kyle made the connection between monoclonal protein disorders, like multiple myeloma, and the electrophoretic pattern, which is a lab result that shows a spike in monoclonal protein in the blood.
After his internship, Dr. Kyle returned to Mayo Clinic in 1961 and worked there his entire career, continuing his research into his 90s, even after he officially retired.
In a 2013 podcast with HealthTree Foundation, when asked if he had any wise words to share with patients and researchers searching for a cure, Dr. Kyle said, “I think that curiosity [and] interest in things is important and also persistence, too. One has to stay, I think, in a field and keep working away. I think it’s probably a combination of ‘accident and persistent effort,’ and I think they go hand in hand.”
Throughout his career, Dr. Kyle has been honored for his many contributions to his field by the leading organizations in hematology. He was awarded the Wallace H. Coulter Award for Lifetime Achievement in Hematology in 2008 from the American Society of Hematology (ASH) and was the first recipient of the Waldenström’s Award in 2001. He also received lifetime achievement awards from the International Myeloma Foundation and the International Waldenström’s Macroglobulinemia Foundation.
After news of his passing spread, patients and colleagues shared their condolences. Patient and advocate Cindy Chmielewski said of Dr. Kyle, “He was a giant in the field of multiple myeloma, yet what stands out most was humility, kindness, and unwavering dedication to patients.”
Dr. Joshua Richter, MD, an Associate Professor of Medicine, Hematology, and Medical Oncology at the Center of Excellence for Multiple Myeloma at the Mount Sinai Tisch Cancer Center, said, “Not a clinic goes by where I don’t directly or indirectly reference the incredible work of Robert Kyle. When they speak of standing on the shoulders of giants, there was no greater giant than he!”
HealthTree Foundation is honored to have worked with Dr. Kyle over the years, and we extend our deepest condolences to his loved ones.
