Physician admired, lauded for demeanor
7/8/2010Dr. Lloyd R. Kavanagh, 81, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Toledo for 33 years and a chief of staff at the former Mercy Hospital, died Sunday in Hospice of Northwest Ohio, South Detroit Avenue, from complications of Parkinson's disease.
"His reputation was above reproach," said Dr. Jack Brunner, Mercy's director of medical education and of its endocrine and diabetes care center. "He was very considerate and kind to his patients.
"He was a good technician," Dr. Brunner said. "He had a calm demeanor, very precise."
Dr. Kavanagh of Sylvania Township was humbled to receive an award in January from the Academy of Medicine of Toledo and Lucas County to mark his 50 years as a physician.
"He said, 'Why are they giving me an award when I was doing something I loved to do?' " his wife, Kathleen, said. "He was helping bring a child into the world, helping a woman through surgery. He treated everyone like they were his family."
Dr. Kavanagh took telephone calls from patients seeking advice, even after his 1992 retirement, even at 2 a.m.
"Before he retired, every patient had our home number," his wife said. "He wanted his patients to have full access to him."
He was a Mercy chief of staff and was chairman of several committees, including the ethics committee. He also was a president and chairman of the former Northwest Physicians, a physician network. He was a clinical associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the former Medical College of Ohio.
He was born Aug. 8, 1928, to Rosetta and William Kavanagh. He was a graduate of South Charleston, Ohio, High School. He was a Navy veteran of the Korean War and was inspired to become a physician by the doctors he saw treating the wounded, his wife said.
He received a bachelor's degree in commerce from Ohio State University and in premedicine from the University of Dayton. His medical education was at Loyola University in Chicago. His internship and residency were at Mercy in Toledo.
Surviving are his wife, Kathleen; daughters, Kathleen Miller and Maureen Simler Moore; brother, Eugene Kavanagh; sisters, Monica Uphaus and Sally Francis, and eight grandchildren.
The body will be in the Urbanski Funeral Home, 5055 Secor Rd., after 2 p.m. Thursday, with a recitation of the Rosary at 7 tonight in the mortuary. Funeral services will be at noon tomorrow in Christ the King Church, where he was an usher and Eucharistic minister.
The family suggests tributes to Hospice of Northwest Ohio or to the church.
Contact Mark Zaborney at:
mzaborney@theblade.com
or 419-724-6182.