Alumni

Norman O. Amos (M.D. 1956, Residency 1959) died August 2, 2010, at age 81. A native of Battle Creek, Michigan, he graduated from nearby Albion College before completing his medical degree and orthopedics residency training at the U-M. He co-founded the Battle Creek Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Clinic, and was one of the first surgeons to perform a successful hip replacement in Battle Creek. In April, Amos was posthumously inducted into the Battle Creek Health System Physicians’ Hall of Fame.

Irving F. Burton (M.D. 1943), 93, died March 10, 2011. A resident of Huntington Woods, Michigan, he practiced pediatrics for 42 years. Burton was former president of the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian and a life trustee at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Rafael Castillo, M.D. (Residency 1950), age 91, died August 23, 2010. He trained in neurosurgery at the U-M from 1944-50, then returned to his native Venezuela and set up practice in Caracas. He taught at the Central University of Venezuela for more than 30 years, and established the department of neurosurgery there, which has since been named after him. He was a founding member of the Frederick A. Coller Surgical Society at the U-M, and founded the Venezuelan Neurosurgical Society and the Caribbean Association of Neurological Surgeons.

Clyde Kenneth Dryer (M.D. 1940), 96, died April 11, 2011. A family physician, he practiced in Wayne, Michigan, for more than 43 years, including service as chief of staff of Annapolis Hospital. He was a life member of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Michael M. Gilbert (M.D. 1948) died August 1, 2010, at age 94. In addition to his M.D., he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees, as well as a Ph.D. in psychology, from the U-M. He was a veteran of World War II and the Korean War. A psychiatrist/neurologist, he was widely considered to be an authority on the insanity defense, and testified in several high-profile cases during his career.

Donald A. Graham (M.D. 1955) died February 1, 2010, at age 84. He served with the U.S. Navy during World War II, and was honorably discharged in 1946. Following the war, he received bachelor’s and medical degrees from the U-M, interned at Toledo Hospital in Ohio from 1955-56, and in 1959 completed his residency at Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C. An ophthalmologist, he spent the majority of his career in private practice in Tacoma, Washington.

Richard S. Hahn, M.D. (Residency 1955), died February 25, 2011, at age 88. He received his medical degree from Northwestern University, and studied cardiac surgery and general surgery before coming to the U-M for a thoracic surgery residency. At the U-M, under the supervision of Frederick A. Coller, M.D., he performed experimental cardiac operations which became the prototype for coronary bypass operations. Hahn then returned to California to practice in Marin County. During his career, he traveled to Peru, Mexico and Asia, immunizing residents against tuberculosis and other diseases. He formed the non-profit organization Alliance for Health Foundation in 1966.

Jack Kevorkian (M.D. 1952, Residencies 1958 and 1959), 83, died June 3, 2011, in Royal Oak, Michigan. Kevorkian was a well-known and controversial figure who advocated for and participated in assisted suicide for terminally ill patients, which led to his conviction for second-degree murder in 1999. Kevorkian was trained in pathology, but also composed music, painted, and was involved in public policy and politics at various stages in his career.

Nicholas Lentini (M.D. 1939), 97, died May 24, 2010, in West Palm Beach, Florida. He established a practice in Cheboygan, Michigan, in 1941, then served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps during World War II. Following his service, he returned to Cheboygan, where he served for a time as chief of staff at Community Memorial Hospital and as executive chairman of the American Cancer Society. He retired to Florida in 1978.

Carl A. Peterson (M.D. 1943), died January 23, 2011. He was 92. Peterson graduated from Hillsdale College before completing his M.D. at the U-M. He was a U.S. Navy veteran who served during World War II and the Korean War. He practiced family medicine in Hillsdale, Michigan, for 40 years and for 10 years in the Panama Canal Zone. He retired in 1980. Peterson and his wife of 67 years established the Dr. Carl and Martha Peterson Scholarship in the U-M Medical School. Contributions to the fund may be sent to 1000 Oakbrook Drive, Suite 100, Ann Arbor, MI 48104.

David G. Pietz (M.D. 1948), 85, died November 29, 2010, at his home in Bluffton, Indiana. A gastroenterologist, he practiced at Caylor-Nickel Clinic in Bluffton from 1955 until retiring in 1991. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1951-52.

William L. Pugh (M.D. 1961), 74, died March 14, 2010, in Ojai, California. After receiving bachelor’s and medical degrees at the U-M, he completed an internship at Los Angeles County General Hospital in 1962 and began service in the U.S. Navy. He graduated as a naval flight surgeon from the School of Aviation Medicine in Pensacola, Florida, in 1964. After military service in San Diego and Japan, he completed a family medicine residency in California, and began a family medicine/anesthesiology private practice in Ojai in 1967. He retired in 1999.

David J. Sencer (M.D. 1952, Residency 1954) died May 2, 2011. He was 86. Sencer attended Wesleyan University, the U-M Medical School and the Harvard University School of Public Health. He was the longest-serving director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1966-77), during which he oversaw a campaign to eradicate smallpox. He served as health commissioner of New York City for four years beginning in 1982. He was instrumental in the formation of a public health department at Emory University in Atlanta which eventually became the Rollins School of Public Health.

David Everett Wile (M.D. 1951, Residency 1955), 89, son of former U-M dermatology chair Udo J. Wile, M.D., died March 9, 2011. He attended Carleton College before enlisting as a naval aviator in 1943. He then became a marine pilot, and was an accomplished wrestler during his military career. Following service, Wile earned a degree in geology from the University of Minnesota, then completed his M.D. and an internal medicine residency at the U-M. In 1955 he relocated to San Diego and began practicing internal medicine privately. He was elected chief of staff of Mercy Hospital in 1968, and later joined the Sharp Rees Stealy Clinic, where he practiced until retiring in 1996.

Arnold Wollum (M.D. 1944, Residencies 1945 and 1952) died April 11, 2011, at age 93. Wollum attended Hillsdale College before entering the U-M Medical School. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1945-46, then returned to Ann Arbor for residency and became an assistant professor of internal medicine in the U-M Medical School. Wollum served another tour of duty, this time in the Korean War, from 1953-54. He spent the majority of his career at the VA Hospital in Iron Mountain, Michigan, and retired to Pompano Beach, Florida, where he was living at the time of his death.

Allen M. Woolson (M.D. 1964, Fellowship 1982), 75, died March 28, 2010.

Faculty

Arthur B. French, M.D., died April 26, 2011, at age 92. He studied medicine at Dartmouth College and Johns Hopkins University, then served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps in Britain from 1944-45. He completed an internship and residency in gastroenterology and a fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital, then took a position at the University of Utah Medical School in 1951. In 1955, he joined the faculty at the U-M Medical School, serving for many years as director of the Clinical Research Unit. He retired from the U-M in 1985, but continued to practice at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit before retiring from medical practice in 1997.

John W. Konnak, M.D. (Residency 1969), died February 6, 2011, at his home in Ann Arbor. He was 73. Konnak earned his bachelor’s and medical degrees at the University of Wisconsin and interned at Philadelphia General Hospital. He was then commissioned to work with the U.S. Public Health Service in Arizona, which was followed by one year of surgery training at Harbor General Hospital in Torrance, California. In 1966, he became a resident in the U-M Department of Urology under chair Reed Nesbit, M.D., and remained there for the rest of his career, retiring as emeritus professor. During his time at the U-M, he taught urology residents and served as president of the Reed Nesbit Urologic Society and for five years as chair of the University Hospital Ethics Committee. Konnak generously supported the Reed Nesbit Professorship in Urology in the U-M Medical School. —MF