George Cuninggim Lynch

LYNCH WINSTON-SALEM - George Cuninggim Lynch, medical illustrator, portrait painter, and Professor Emeritus of Biomedical Communications at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University, died on September 28, 2009. Mr. Lynch, 84, was born in Hillsboro, North Carolina on September 29, 1924 to George Calvin Lynch, deceased, and Cora Elizabeth Litchfield Lynch, deceased. One brother, William, deceased. He is survived by his wife, Suzanne Peninger Lynch; a son, Charles Mark Lynch and his wife Teresa Zimmerdahl Lynch: a daughter, Elizabeth Dawn Pott and husband, Robert Pott; and two grand-daughters, Avery Lynch and Gina Lynch all of Corvallis, Oregon. On April 22, 1942 Mr. Lynch joined the US Navy and was assigned to the Navy Hospital Corps School. Early in his military service he was attached to the 1st Airdrome Battalion of the U.S. Marine Corps and participated in the invasion of the Marshall Islands where he was promoted to Pharmacists Mate 1st Class. While serving in the Pacific he was selected for the Navy V-12 Pre-medical College Training Program at Duke University and remained there until the program closed. After his discharge from the Navy he studied at the Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, Florida and the Island City School of Art in Key West. In 1948 he was the first student to attend the Medical Illustration Program at the Medical College of Georgia. In 1949 he became a medical illustrator at Duke University, and was appointed Instructor in Medical Illustration for his contributions to medical education while producing teaching films for the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis with Dr. Joseph E. Markee, James B. Duke Professor of Anatomy. In 1954 Mr. Lynch was made director of the Department of Medical Illustration at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine. He was very active in medical audiovisual education and was Past President of the Association of Medical Illustrators, and the Association of Biomedical Communications Directors. He served on the boards of the Vesalius Trust, and the Biological Photographic Association. In 1968 a film he produced, "A Brief History of Medicine," won a CINE Golden Eagle Award. He retired from the School of Medicine in 1991. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Medical Illustrators in 1992. As a portrait painter he was commissioned to paint portraits for major medical centers, and pastel portraits of children in Winston-Salem and throughout the Southeast. Mr. Lynch was a Charter Exhibiting Member and President of the Winston-Salem Gallery of Art, and of The Associated Artists of Winston-Salem. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to The Vesalius Trust, Lisa Warren, Executive Director and Donations, 20751 West Chartwell Drive, Kildeer, IL, 60047, or to The Orville Parkes Fund, Dept. of Medical Illustration, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA, 30912-0300. Tax exempt contributions to the Vesalius Trust and Parkes Fund support annual meetings, student scholarships, awards and grants. A family graveside service will be at a later date at Rowan Memorial Park in Salisbury.