Cardiologist was there when Allies liberated Dachau

6/17/2001

Dr. Gordon M. Todd, a longtime Toledo internist and cardiologist and a former president of the Academy of Medicine of Toledo and Lucas County who was a leader in professional, civic, and church groups, died Thursday in Parkcliffe assisted living community, where he lived the last two months. He was 83.

He was diagnosed recently with cancer, his daughter, Karen Cronin, said.

Dr. Todd, of Ottawa Hills, was 80 when he closed his office in the Harris McIntosh Tower at Toledo Hospital. He was a former president of the Blue Shield board and of the Northwestern Ohio Heart Association.

Born in Pullman, Wash., he was a graduate of the Washington University medical school in St. Louis. He was in the Army medical corps during World War II and was among forces liberating Dachau, the Nazi concentration camp.

He was a resident and an instructor in medicine from 1947 to 1950 at what is now Wayne State University in Detroit and at Detroit Receiving Hospital. He moved to Toledo in 1950 and was a partner for several years with Dr. Maurice Schnitker in offices at the former Secor Hotel on Jefferson Avenue.

A pianist, Dr. Todd was chairman of the music and worship committee at Collingwood Presbyterian Church, where he was an elder.

Surviving are his wife, Emily, whom he married Aug. 20, 1942; daughters, Karen Cronin, Jean Todd, and Cynthia Brown; son, Gordon; brother, Leonard; sister, Eleanor Nixon; six grandchildren, and three great grandchildren.

There will be no visitation. Memorial services will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday in Collingwood Presbyterian Church.

The family requests tributes to the church, the American Heart Association; Heartland Hospice Association, or a charity of the donor's choice.