* William Blackton; 35-Year Kidney Dialysis Patient

William Blackton, 53, a onetime Los Angeles radio writer and one of the world’s longest-surviving kidney dialysis patients. By the time Blackton finished high school in 1965, his kidneys had shut down. Fortunately, dialysis had been developed by then. Blackton graduated from Columbia University, the first person to complete college while on dialysis, which at the time took 16 hours a day three days a week. Later, after his body rejected a transplanted kidney, he obtained a machine that enabled him to do his own dialysis at home, four hours a day, three days a week. Fifteen years ago, Dr. Belding Scribner, inventor of arteriovenous shunts for modern dialysis, estimated that fewer than 10 people worldwide had survived on dialysis treatment as long as Blackton. After beginning his career as a radio writer at Los Angeles station KPFK and later KFWB, Blackton went on to freelance documentary programs for National Public Radio and eventually to write for Voice of America. There, the title of senior editor and writer was created for him. In addition to working full time, he kept in shape by swimming, riding an exercise bike and running. In his 35 years on dialysis, Blackton was rarely sick, his family said. Blackton founded the American Assn. of Kidney Patients. On Monday in Fairfax, Va., of kidney disease.