Dr. George Alker was born in Budapest, Hungary on October 21, 1929 into a family of physicians; his father, uncle and grandfather were all doctors. He lived in Hungary with his parents and brother until March 29, 1945 when the family left Hungary ahead of the advancing Russian Army. The family lived in various refugee camps in Austria where he graduated from Cardinal Mindszenty High School in 1948. He attended medical school in Innsbruck, Austria for one year when he received a full scholarship from Allegheny College in Meadville, PA and he immigrated to the United States in time for the beginning of the academic year in 1949. He received his bachelor’s degree in 1952. He then attended the University of Buffalo Medical School where he received his medical degree in 1956. He became interested in radiology while working at Roswell Park Memorial Institute one summer during medical so; he completed his residency in radiology at the E.J. Meyer Memorial Hospital in Buffalo. In the 1950s Dr. Alker also served as a U.S. Army Medical Officer and he was honorably discharged with the rank of Captain.
Dr. Alker was Chair of the E.J. Meyer Memorial Hospital and Erie County Medical Center Radiology Department and Professor and Chair of Radiology of the State University of New York at Buffalo. He specialized in neuro-radiology, published in many journals and won several awards for his writings. He built a strong relationship between radiology and neurology and he was internationally recognized in cervical spine neuro-radiology. He was a great mentor who lived, breathed, and eventually died at ECMC. Staff members who had the good fortune to work with him regarded him as a father figure for the Department of Radiology as well as a friend and colleague. In 2011 the new 3T MRI installation at ECMC was dedicated to the memory of Dr. George Alker.
Dr. Alker married June Braun in 1958 in Buffalo, New York. The couple had one child, Dr. John L. Alker. Dr. George Alker, Jr. died in Buffalo, New York on December 31, 1991.