VIRGINIA KANICK

KANICK--Virginia Helen,

died on November 15, 2017, at Brookdale Battery Park, New York, NY. New York City had been her home for 74 years since she arrived from Richmond, VA in 1943 to attend Barnard College. "I knew I'd never be a Southern belle." Barnard was her elysian field taking her from classical studies to nuclear physics, rewarding her excellence with Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1947, and inspiring her to study medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, at a time when few women were becoming doctors. She happily remembered modeling in the garment district to supplement her scholarships to medical school. Born in Coaldale, PA on November 10, 1925, she moved in 1939 to Richmond where she graduated from John Marshall High School. After college and medical school, she interned at Case Western Reserve and became a resident in radiology from 1952-55, at St. Luke's Hospital in the upper west end of Manhattan. Over the next almost four decades at St. Luke's, she became an attending radiologist, the Deputy Director and Director of Radiology, the President of the Medical Board of St. Luke's - Roosevelt Hospital, and Clinical Professor of Radiology at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Along the way, she published dozens of peerreviewed articles in medical journals, became a fellow of numerous medical societies, served on the Advisory Committee for Medical Devices at the Food and Drug Administration, became a Director of the New York State Radiology Society and the New York County Medical Society. One of her St. Luke's colleagues remarked at Virginia's retirement in 1989, "In spite of her busy schedule, she has made it her business to know of our personal joys and to genuinely join us in celebrating, or giving us support, advice and true empathy in times of suffering." Virginia's passions were pursuing excellence as a radiologist, traveling across five continents to study archeology, history and foreign cultures, schussing down a pristine expert slope in Colorado or Switzerland, and holidays with her devoted family. Virginia became the highly valued matriarch of a family which included four nieces and nephews, 11 grandnieces and nephews, and 19 great-grandnieces and nephews. She has been a loyal and generous member of End of Life New York which will accept donations in her honor.