Eugene Poutasse

Eugene F. Poutasse NORFOLK - Eugene Francis Poutasse, retired M.D., died Nov. 30, 2010, at the age of 92. Born and raised in Weston, Mass., with his siblings, Esther and Charles, Eugene graduated from Harvard College in 1939 and Harvard Medical School in 1943. During World War II medical students were all military officers, and Dr. Poutasse became a lieutenant in the U.S. Naval Reserve Medical Corps. After an internship at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, young Dr. Poutasse was attached to the Marine Corps stationed on Guam. When hostilities ended, he served as medical investigator on the team assembling evidence of war crimes committed by Japanese officers on the island of Chichi Jima. After leaving the Navy, Dr. Poutasse received training in surgery and urology at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, and then in 1950 joined the Department of Urology at the Cleveland Clinic as a renal surgeon. There he pioneered surgical treatments for renal arterial disease and associated hypertension, using techniques such as x-ray aortography, homografting of renal arteries, and kidney transplantation. For this work he was awarded, with a colleague, the Amory Prize by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1961. In 1963 he was a member of the surgical team that performed the first cadaver kidney transplant. In 1963, Dr. Poutasse joined his friend and colleague, Charles Devine, M.D., to form a practice specializing in general, vascular, and reconstructive urology, in Norfolk, where he continued to perform surgery and publish professionally. He practiced medicine in Norfolk until he retired, the first time, in 1983. For the next 10 years, he worked with The Medical Society of Virginia Review Organization, in its mission to maintain a high standard of medical care through professional peer review. He retired, a second time, from MSVRO in 1994. Dr. Poutasse belonged to many professional organizations, including the American Urological Association, the American Congress of Urology, the Societe Internationale D'Urologie, and the Medical Society of Virginia. He was a fellow of the American Association of G.U. Surgeons and the American Academy of Science. He was governor of the American College of Surgeons from 1963 to 1966; chairman of the Tidewater Chapter of the National Kidney Foundation (1970); president of the Tidewater Heart Association, (1970-1972). He served on the Boards of Directors for the Virginia Heart Association (1967-1973) and the Norfolk, Chamber of Commerce (1968-1971), and on the Board of Trustees of the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk (1979-1983). At home in Nellysford, Dr. Poutasse developed his third career as a master woodworker. His interest in antiques grew into restoration; restoration grew into original projects in wood. With characteristic thoroughness he collected wood, built a large, comfortable workshop, attracted appreciative clients and fellow woodworkers and spent his later years building fine furniture and other objects of wood. He always had an intense curiosity and the ability to immerse himself in the details of his many interests outside of medicine. Along with his wife of 49 years, Catherine Arlene, Eugene Poutasse leaves sons, daughters and their partners, Robert Poutasse and Nancy Myerson of Simsbury, Conn., Charles Poutasse and Christine Healey of Concord, Mass., Sarah Bent and Craig Thompson of Kansas City, Mo., Marc and Allyson Poutasse of Norfolk, Jacqueline Poutasse and Terri Sturyk of Virginia Beach, Alice and Todd Frazier of Leesburg, Va., Sydney and Kenneth Gorby of Fishersville, Va., Frances and Douglas Stacey of Tampa, Fla.; his mother-in-law, Catherine, and 29 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by daughter, Andrea Glenn of Topeka, Kan., and his sister Esther, and brother, Charles. A funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 11, at Rodes United Methodist Church, 286 Avon Road, Afton, Va. A reception will follow at 402 Sawmill Creek Drive, Nellysford. For those unable to attend the funeral, a memorial celebration will be held Jan. 19, 2011 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Norfolk Yacht and Country Club. Please join us, with your reply: Poutasse@cox.net or 757-489-0530. In lieu of flowers, please consider a gift to support either the Devine Chair in Genitourinary Recon- structive Surgery or the Paul F. Schellhammer, MD Professor in Cancer Research, both are held at the Eastern Virginia Medical School Foundation. Make checks payable to the EVMS Foundation, P.O. Box 5, Norfolk, VA 23501 or make a gift online at www.evmsfoun dation.com, and identify the fund one wishes to support.