DukeMed Alumni News
Fall 2007

Obituaries

John David Bridgers, Sr., MD’50, died May 12 in Murfreesboro, Tenn. He was 86. He received a bachelor’s degree in 1940 from East Carolina Teachers College, now East Carolina University, and graduated from Duke University School of Medicine in 1950. From 1941 to 1946 and then again from 1950 to 1954, he served in the U.S. Navy, where he picked up the nickname “Jig.” As a carrier-based aviator, he flew more than 70 combat missions during World War II and participated in four of the five major fleet engagements in the Pacific. He returned to active service during the Korean War serving as a flight surgeon with Experimental Air Group VX-3 stationed in Atlantic City, N.J. Bridgers completed his residency in pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and was assistant chief resident in 1955. In 1956 he joined Children’s medical staff and eventually became director of the outpatient department. He also served as an instructor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. In 1962 he returned to North Carolina and joined the High Point Infant and Child Clinic, where he practiced until 1984. In 1965 he helped found the Developmental Evaluation Clinic of High Point (now part of Moses Cone Hospital) and served as its medical director. He retired from private practice in 1984 and joined the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Hospitals. In 1988 he was named medical director of Burdette-Tomlin Hospital (now Cape May Regional Medical Center) in Cape May Courthouse, N.J., where he served until his retirement in 1994. His wife, Edith “Edie” Hamrick Bridgers, preceded him in death in 2000. Surviving are his children: Col. (ret) John D. Bridgers, Jr., Dr. Samuel L. Bridgers II, Carl H. Bridgers, Raymond S. Bridgers, Barbara Jean Bridgers-Johnson, and Holland “Holly” Bridgers Burton; nine grandchildren; two step-grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and sister, Elizabeth Bridgers.

Banks Raleigh Cates, Jr., T’42, MD’44, of Charlotte, N.C., passed away July 22, 2007, at his home. Born March 28, 1921, in Charlotte, he attended The Citadel and Duke University before completing his medical studies at Duke University School of Medicine. He served as a medical officer in the U.S. Navy in World War II and the Korean War. He was very active in the American Heart Association and served the community at large with charitable contributions of his medical services. Cates shared his passion for life and his love of nature with his family and friends, leading them on numerous camping, hiking, backpacking, sailing, and canoeing trips. He devoted much of his time to leading scout and church choir groups on these adventures as well. Cates put the same energy into his many hobbies, which included making flags, kites, and rope swings. He devoted much of his later years to researching and documenting the Cates family genealogy. He was an active member of Covenant Presbyterian Church where he served as clerk of session and elder emeritus. One of his most enjoyable committees was the music committee. Cates is survived by his wife of 41 years, Sandra Mauldin; brother James M. Cates of Travelers Rest, S.C.; eight children: Anne C. Buckler of Cary, N.C., Banks R. Cates III, T’70, MD, of Simpsonville, S.C., Thomas R. Cates of Rock Hill, S.C., Robert A. Cates of Chapel Hill, N.C., Stephen B. Cates of Roanoke, Va., Mary C. Carlson, E’89, of Argyle, Texas, John W. Cates of Charlotte, and Katherine C. Cisne of Charlotte. He is also survived by 14 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Cates was preceded in death by his first wife, Mary Jean Robinson, and his parents Banks Raleigh Cates, Sr., and Mary Louise Blakely Cates.

Jack Tempest Collins, MD, HS’57-’60, of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, died April 29 following long-time illnesses complicated by a fall. He was 79. He graduated from Cleveland Heights High School in 1946 and was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy in 1946 and the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1956. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University with a pre-med degree in 1952. He earned his medical degree from Western Reserve University in 1956. Collins practiced internal medicine and cardiology at the Caylor-Nickel Clinic in Bluffton, Ind., from 1960 to 1989. While there he was a pioneer in early cardiology interventions and procedures, such as pacemakers, intensive coronary care units, and treadmill testing. During his tenure in Bluffton, he served as chairman of the CNC Department of Cardiology and the Department of Internal Medicine. He organized a Wells County unit of the American Heart Association and later served as president of the Northeast Indiana Heart Association. He returned to Cleveland in 1989, joining the staff of the Cleveland Clinic in the Department of Preventive Medicine/Internal Medicine. A vocal advocate for proper diet and exercise, he became an avid cross-country bicyclist and took many of his vacations on bicycle tours across midwestern states. After his retirement in 1994 at the age of 65, he embarked on a solo transcontinental bicycle ride of 4,345 miles from coast to coast, beginning on the Oregon coast and ending in Rockport, Maine. Collins is survived by his wife of 53 years, Roslyn S. Collins, and children, Jean Seabury-Kolod of St. Paul, Minn., Glenn H. Collins of Cleveland Heights, and Mark Neu-Collins of Solon, Idaho; eight grandchildren; a brother, William H. Collins of Cleveland Heights; and a sister, Joan C. Engstrom of Mesa, Ariz.

Maurie Bertram Cree, MD’35, died in Deltaville, Va., on June 23, 2007, 15 days shy of his 102nd birthday. He was born July 8, 1905, in Littleton, N.C. He served as a Boy Scout during World War I in Newport News, Va., and assisted in welcoming ceremonies for troops returning from the war in Europe. Cree graduated in 1928 from Wake Forest College with a BS degree and earned his medical degree from Duke in 1935. He was a veteran of World War II, serving as a U.S. Army medical surgeon from 1942 to 1945, mostly in MASH hospitals in Australia, New Guinea, and the Netherland East Indies. He was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army Medical Corps as a major in December 1945 and got married that month in New York City. Cree’s private medical practice included being chief of the orthopedic service at the VA Hospital in Kecoughtan, Va. Then in 1952 he joined the founding surgical staff at Margaret Pardee Hospital in Hendersonville, N.C., where he remained until retiring in 1985. Cree is survived by his wife of 61 years, Jean; four adult children, Barbara Gray of Southport, N.C., Cynthia Cree of Virginia Beach, Va., David Cree and wife, Gretchen, of Lewisburg, W.Va., and Richard Cree of Smyrna, Ga.; six grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and sister, Alma Cree Snowa of Richmond, Va.

Arthur David, Jr., T’51, MD’55, of Jacksonville, Fla., passed away May 28 in the Hadlo Center for Caring in Jacksonville following a long illness. He was 79. David was a Jacksonville native and a U. S. Navy Veteran of WWII. He received his medical degree from Duke University and completed his residency at Georgetown University. He retired
after 38 years with the Riverside Clinic, where he once served as president. He was the first nephrologist in Jacksonville and an honorary board member of the St. Vincent’s Hospital and Riverside Clinic. He also was a member of the Ponte Vedra Country Club. David is survived by his wife, Betty Barnett David, of Jacksonville; two daughters, Dr. Kristan David Podvia (Robert) of Fernandina Beach, Fla., and Tracee Perry of Jacksonville; four sons, Arthur K. David III of Alpharetta, Ga., Matthew L. David of Orlando, Fla., Dr. Roy Franklin David of Jacksonville, and Nathan W. David of Shelby, N.C.; one sister, Ruth Clever of Atlanta, Ga.; one brother, Donald David of Blairsville, Ga.; and fifteen grandchildren.

Albert W. Farley, T’44, MD’47, DC, a retired neurosurgeon, died on Father’s Day in 2005 at his summer home in Point Lookout, Mich. While at Duke he and eight other classmates (Tom Clifford, MD’47; Herman Froeb, MD’47; Henry Nicholson, T’44, MD’47; Bob McWhorter, MD’47; John McCoy, MD’47; Jack Teasley, MD’47, HS’47-’49; and Milton Weinberg, T’45, MD’47) lived in Granny Cranny’s boarding house near the Women’s East Campus. After medical school Farley performed his training at Rush-Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago, Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, and the University of Michigan before settling into practice in Saginaw, Mich. He was a member of a MASH unit during the Korean War, treating mainly patients with serious cranial injuries, and becoming known as “Fearless Farley—Have Knife, Will Travel,” which he did among the various MASH Hospitals. When he retired to Florida he became a licensed contractor and rebuilt and remodeled houses. He is survived by his wife Betty, her four children and several grandchildren, and his first wife Jody and their four children.

Robert Paul Iacono, MD, HS’80-’82, ’83-’84, of Rolling Hills, Calif., died on June 16, 2007. He was 55. He was raised in California on the Palos Verdes Peninsula and graduated from Miraleste High School. He received his BS and medical degrees from the University of Southern California. He completed his residency in neurosurgery at Duke. His career included brain tumor and Parkinson’s research at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center and Loma Linda University and Medical Center. In private practice at R.P. Iacono Neuroscience, Inc., Iacono performed pallidotomies and used his extensive clinical research to help patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease recover successfully. During his career, he also was chief of neurosurgery at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Tucson, Ariz., and held academic appointments in neurosurgery at St. Bernardine Medical Center in San Bernardino, Calif. He was a pioneer in stereotactic surgery for Parkinson’s disease and performed pallidotomies
on approximately 2,000 patients. Known worldwide for his medical procedures and advancements for Parkinson’s disease, his book, Reversing Parkinson’s Stress and Aging, is expected to be published soon. He leaves behind his wife, Dr. Grace Oh; a son, Robert Hunter; a daughter, Rose; his father, Paul E. Iacono; his sister, Jeanne; a niece, Paula; and a nephew, Loyd.

Charles W. Lewis, Jr., MD’45, died in April. He is survived by his wife Gene Harlow
Lewis, N’45, and four sons, including Richard, MD’77, Alan, Loyd, and Charles.

Ralph Taylor McCauley, MD’47, died on Monday, June 4, 2007, at Danville (Va.) Regional Medical Center. He was born Feb. 6, 1922, in Mebane, N.C. An only child, he and his parents moved to West Virginia soon after his birth. McCauley entered Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the fall of 1939. Near the end of his junior year in 1942, his entire class was inducted into the armed services. After basic training, McCauley was ordered to finish his senior year at Yale and then attend Duke Medical School. Due to the war emergency, medical school was in session year round, so he finished in three and a half years. He then completed an internship and residency in general surgery at the University of Minnesota, where he first met Helen, a surgical nurse. They were married May 9, 1949, and moved to the coalfield area of West Virginia, where he had a general practice for three years. Deciding to specialize in urology, McCauley resumed his training at Duke University Medical School in 1952. A short time later, he was called into the United States Air Force. The Air Force needed urologists, so he was ordered back to medical school as a first lieutenant, and McCauley agreed to serve a full four years once his training was finished. After serving two years at Wright-Patterson in Ohio and two years at Weisbaden, Germany, he moved his family to Danville in December 1959 and joined the Danville Urology Clinic. In 1967 he established Danville Urology Associates, from which he retired in 1982. McCauley is survived by his wife, Helen; two daughters, Elizabeth Burch and her husband, James, of Charlottesville and Susan Lunsford and her husband, Scott, of Mooresville, N.C.; six grandchildren and one great-grandson. He was predeceased by two sons, Hugh McCauley and William McCauley.

George F. Magee, MD’54, died June 28 at his home in Reno, Nev., of complications following a heart attack. He was 78. He graduated from the University of Nevada-Reno in 1950, Duke University School of Medicine in 1954, and did his residency in ophthalmology at the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute. He then served two years on the staff of the eye clinic at the U.S. Naval Hospital in St. Albans, Long Island, where he met his wife Jane, who was stationed there as a social worker with the American National Red Cross. Following his discharge in 1959 he returned to Reno to join his father’s ophthalmology practice. Among the many organizations to which he belonged he was a Diplomate of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. He served on staff at St. Mary’s Hospital, Washoe Medical Center, and as a consultant at the VA hospital.
Magee is survived by his wife of 48 years and three daughters and their families.

John P. McGovern, MD’45, HS’48-’49, DC, a noted allergist, scholar and philanthropist, died May 31 of pneumonia at John Sealy Hospital at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, almost a week after he fell at home. He was 85. McGovern made his name as a leader in treating allergies and asthma and then became even better known for his philanthropy. The son of a surgeon, he graduated from Duke University School of Medicine in 1945. He was trained as a pediatrician and began an interest in medical research that continued to his death. He served in the Army medical corps and in 1951 began teaching, first at George Washington University Medical School in Washington, D.C., and then at Tulane Medical School in New Orleans. In 1956 he moved to Houston to join the Baylor College of Medicine faculty. By then his medical interests had expanded to treating allergies. After starting an allergy clinic for children at a New Orleans hospital, he founded the McGovern Allergy-Immunology Clinic within months of moving to Houston. He retired from the clinic in 1986 but remained as a consultant until 1991. His foundation, the John P. McGovern Foundation, valued at almost $200 million in 2005, consumed much of his time and energy. McGovern is a former president of the Duke University Medical Alumni Association and received the association’s Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1976. Duke awarded him an honorary doctor of science degree in 1995. In the late 1990s he made gifts totaling $6.5 million to help fund the McGovern-Davison Children’s Health Center, which opened in 2000. He is survived by his wife Katherine.

Michael L. Nash, MD’71, HS’74-’77, died under the care of Spanish Oaks Hospice at Savannah Cottage on June 30. He was 60. He was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and was raised in Far Rockaway, N.Y. He graduated pre-med with a bachelor’s degree in English from the State University of New York at Stonybrook, where he met Arlene, his wife of 39 years. Nash graduated from Duke University School of Medicine in 1971 where he subsequently completed his internship in internal medicine followed by his residency and a nephrology fellowship. He served as a Captain in the Air Force from 1972 to 1974 at Patrick Air Force Base in Cocoa Beach, Fla. Nash moved to Savannah to join Medical Associates of Savannah in 1977, where he practiced Nephrology and Internal Medicine until his retirement in 2005. He was a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, a Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine, and a board-certified Nephrologist. Nash was chief medical director of Fresenius Medical Care (FMC) Coastal Dialysis, FMC The Marshlands, and FMC Claxton Dialysis Center. He was a co-recipient with his wife of the 2005 Savannah Humane Society Humanitarian Award. He is survived by his wife, two daughters and sons-in-law, and four grandchildren.

Luther John Roberts, Jr., MD’42, of Columbus, Ga., died July 25. He was 91. Roberts served as a major in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. in New Caledonia and the Philippines during World War II in 1944-1945. He earned his undergraduate degree from Washington & Lee University where he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated from Duke University School of Medicine in 1942 and practiced general surgery and general medicine in Columbus for 40 years until his retirement in 1987. Roberts served as chief of staff for St. Francis Hospital from 1979 to 1984. After his retirement he worked for the public health department for 10 years. He was a past active member of the Muscogee County Medical Society, the Medical Association of Georgia, and the American Medical Association. Roberts was preceded in death by his wife, Wilma Wenzel Roberts. Survivors include his children, Mary Elizabeth Roberts, Bonnie Roberts Dudley, Clair Wenzel Roberts, Kathleen Truitt Roberts, and Wilma Roberts O’Connell, several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

H. Max Schiebel, MD, HS’33-’39, of Durham died on June 4, 2007. He was born January 18, 1909, in Baltimore, Md., to Elizabeth Schmiedicki and Max Schiebel, both natives of Germany. He was educated in a two-room school in Pennsylvania and graduated from Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed his residency in general and thoracic surgery at Duke University Hospital in 1939, after which he entered practice in Durham. During more than 50 years practicing medicine, he was associated with Duke, Watts, Durham Regional, Lincoln, and Dorothea Dix hospitals. At one time he served as chairman of the Department of Surgery at Watts, Lincoln, and Dorothea Dix hospitals. He was instrumental in getting approval for the surgical residency program at Lincoln Hospital. For more than 50 years, he served as a surgical consultant for Blue Cross Blue Shield and was active on the local, state, and national boards of the American Cancer Society. Throughout the years, he received many honors including the Silver Torch Award International, the Distinguished Service Award from the UNC Medical Alumni Association, and Durham’s City of Medicine Award. He was an avid participant in tennis, bird hunting, sailing, snow skiing, traveling, gardening, reading, and writing. Having earned his license in 1942, he was also an enthusiastic pilot. Schiebel was predeceased by three brothers, Herbert, the Reverend Robert, and Dr. Edward Schiebel; an infant sister; his first wife, Barbara Fish Schiebel; a niece; and more than 50 of his beloved dogs. His wife, Nancy Alyea Schiebel, WC’53, their daughter Elizabeth Albright, T’92, and her husband, Andrew, three nephews, and two nieces survive him.

Norman J. Silver, T’46, MD’48, a retired orthopedic surgeon in New Rochelle, N.Y., died in December 2006. He was 80. Silver was a captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corps from 1955 to 1957. He served as president of the New Rochelle Hospital Medical Board from 1983 to 1984 and was a former chief of orthopedics. He is survived by Marcia, his wife of 58 years, three children—Nancy, Jacob, and Thomas—and six grandchildren.

Howard Paul Steiger, T’37, MD’40, DC, of Pawley’s Island, S.C., passed away on June 23, 2007. Born November 2, 1915, in Williamsport, Pa., he did his college studies at Bucknell, Tulane, and Duke universities. He entered Duke medical school in 1936 and graduated in December 1939. He was an exchange student at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London in the summer of 1939 and interned at Georgia Baptist Hospital in Atlanta and the U.S. Marine Hospital in New Orleans. He left the service in July 1941 to begin a residency in dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia
but was recalled to the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) in 1942 and discharged in 1945 as a lieutenant commander. In July 1945 Steiger began a private dermatology practice in Charlotte. He played flute and piccolo for many years in the Shrine Band, Charlotte Comrade German Band, and the Sunday School orchestra of the First Methodist Church in Charlotte. He served on the Charlotte and the N.C. boards of health, was president of the Mecklenburg Cancer Society and the Charlotte Exchange Club, and was a member of the Charlotte German American Club. He was an emeritus member of the Mecklenburg County Medical Society, the Georgetown County Medical Society, and the American Academy of Dermatology. He was predeceased by his wife of 64 years, Elizabeth Butler Steiger. He is survived by daughters Helen Kellicut of Deer Lodge, Mont., Louise and husband William Wannamaker Heizer of Greenville, S.C., Edith and husband John Seaman of Seattle, Wash., and son H. Paul Steiger and wife Dia of Charlotte, N.C.; seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Kshetrabasi Tripathy MD, HS’58-’59, of New Orleans, La., passed away on July 17, 2007. He was a 1954 graduate of Calcutta Medical College and completed his residency and fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh and Duke University. He established a research program in nutrition in Cali, Colombia, before returning to New Orleans, where he served on the faculties of Tulane University and Louisiana State University medical schools. He maintained a clinical practice at Touro Infirmary and remained active in teaching. Tripathy is survived by his wife Krishna Misra Tripathy; his children, Rina Jordan, Ina Barlow, Debu Tripathy, Ita Tripathy, and Vic Tripathy; and nine grandchildren. He is also survived by many siblings, nieces, and nephews.

Heinrich Werner, MD, HS’86-’89, died July 15, 2007, at his home in Lexington, Ky. He was 49. A national and international leader in pediatric intensive care medicine, he was vice chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Kentucky and medical director of the Kentucky Children’s Hospital. He spent many years as chief of the Kentucky Children’s Hospital Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and was a leader in the UK Healthcare Enterprise. Born in Kassel, Germany, Werner attended medical school in Mainz, Germany, and at the University of California, Los Angeles. He was a pediatric resident at Duke and completed his fellowship in critical care medicine at the British Columbia Children’s Hospital in Vancouver. He was an attending physician at the German Heart Institute in Berlin before moving to Lexington. Werner is survived by his wife Nancy; his sons, Karl, Thomas, and Martin; his father Erich; and brother Reinhard.