John W. Kendall M.D. Jr.

1929 - 2019

John W. Kendall, Jr., M.D.
March 19, 1929 - Dec. 11, 2019
On Dec. 11, 2019, John W. Kendall, Jr., loving husband and father of three children, passed away at age 90.
Dr. Kendall was born March 19, 1929, in Bellingham, Wash., to John and Mathilda (Hansen) Kendall, and grew up in Seattle. He received his Bachelor's degree from Yale University in 1951. In 1954, he married Elizabeth "Betty" Meece. Together, he and Betty raised three children: John III, Katherine and Victoria. He received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Washington in 1955. Dr. Kendall completed his internship, residency and Endocrinology fellowship at Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville, Tenn.
In 1960, after completion of his house officership at Vanderbilt, Dr. Kendall began his career in academic and clinical medicine as a research fellow in Endocrinology at the University of Oregon Medical School. In 1962, he commenced his two-year obligatory service under the Doctor Draft as a United States Navy physician and was honorably discharged in 1964. He returned to Oregon as a professor of Endocrinology at UOMS and as a researcher with the Veterans Administration, where he investigated the physiological relationship between the pituitary and adrenal glands.
The subsequent 55 years of Dr. Kendall's remarkable career were driven by his focus on compassionate and effective patient care. For all of his awards and achievements over time, he was most proud of being able to help provide the best care possible to every patient, at every level, every time.
From 1983 through 1992, Dr. Kendall served as Dean of the School of Medicine at what had been re-named Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) and Associate Chief of Staff for Research at the Portland Veterans Administration Medical Center. Upon retirement, he became the school's first Dean Emeritus.
An interesting interview of Dr. Kendall is available at https://scholararchive.ohsu/downloads/kn30bx145?locale=en/
A major achievement during his tenure as Dean was revision of the basic medical curriculum. Instead of two years classroom instruction in the basic sciences followed by two years of seeing patients in the clinics, students began their clinical experience on the first day of medical school, interleaved with four years' instruction in the relevant basic sciences, thus being graduated with four years' clinical training rather than two.
Before the sky-bridge over the canyon between OHSU and the Portland VA Medical Center was built, any patient requiring care in both facilities had to be transported back and forth by ambulance. Staff interacting in person had to travel by bus or car, or a hike around the canyon. After years of campaigning, Dr. Kendall secured funding for construction of the bridge. It is an unmitigated success and stands as a tribute to his passion to share research between the facilities and especially to improve efficiency in the provision of medical services to all patients.
Some of his many awards include his selection as the recipient of the 2011 OHSU Distinguished Alumni Award; 2012 University of Washington School of Medicine Distinguished Alumni Award; and the prestigious Distinguished Physician Award from the Department of Veterans Affairs. He was an elected member of both the American Society for Clinical Research and the Association of American Physicians, as well as The British Royal Society of Medicine. Dr. Kendall received the Medical Research Foundation Mentor Award in 1992 and the OHSU Department of Medicine House-Staff Award in 1976. There are many more accolades that celebrate Dr. Kendall's accomplished career, including election to the West Seattle High School Hall of Fame in the year 2000.
When he was not blazing trails in medicine, Dr. Kendall enjoyed fishing, mushrooming, viticulture, bird-watching and competing with Betty to see whose tomatoes would ripen first. His tomatoes were better than his wine.
Dr. Kendall is survived by his wife; three children and their spouses; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. A family memorial service was held in December and Dr. Kendall was interred at Willamette National Cemetery.
OHSU will host a public Celebration of Life for Dean Emeritus Kendall from 3 - 5 p.m., Friday, March 6, 2020, in the OHSU Auditorium and Old Library located at 3223 S.W. Sam Jackson Park Rd., Portland, OR 97239.
The family kindly requests that donations in Dr. Kendall's memory be made to the John A. Benson Jr. M.D. & John W. Kendall Jr. M.D. Visiting Lectureship, administered by The Foundation for Medical Excellence, a tax exempt 501(c)3 organization, located at 11740 S.W. 68th Pkwy #125, Portland, OR 97223; (503) 222-1960; www.tfme.org
The lectureship, which concentrates on medical education, was created in 1996 to honor these two internist-educators for their exceptional contributions to the profession, to the school as deans, and to the Foundation, of which Dr. Kendall was a founding member and past president.
Please sign the online guest book at www.oregonlive.com/obits