Gail Victor Anderson M.D.

1925 - 2014 Gail Victor Anderson, MD, died of complications from pneumonia on September 6, 2014 in Pasadena, California. Born on October 3, 1925 in Pensacola, Florida, he served in the United States Navy during WWII before attending college and graduating from medical school at Loma Linda University. Following residency training in obstetrics and gynecology in Washington, D.C., he became the director of the ob-gyn service at Los Angeles County General Hospital in 1958. During the 1960's, he was recognized as an extremely accomplished gynecological surgeon and teacher of gynecological surgery. He also became a noted clinical researcher of diabetic pregnancy and rose to become professor and acting chair of the obstetrics and gynecology department at the University of Southern California. The idea of creating a new medical specialty of emergency medicine began to take hold in several areas of the country in the late '60s. In 1971, the dean of USC's medical school and the medical director of the county hospital asked him to become the first professor and chairman of an academic department of emergency medicine in the United States. Dr. Anderson would later wryly comment that it was perhaps appropriate that an obstetrician was among the early founders assisting in the birth of a new specialty. After the USC emergency medicine training program began in 1971, he and others continued to push for formal recognition of the specialty during the next two decades. He travelled internationally to meet with physicians also interested in the advancement of emergency medicine. During the early 1970's he founded the first physician assistant emergency medicine program at LAC+USC Medical Center. In 1976, he and 11 other representatives formed the American Board of Emergency Medicine and served as its president from 1987 to 1988. He was quite proud when emergency medicine was designated as an independent freestanding specialty the following year. In 1996, the American College of Emergency Physicians presented the James D. Mills Award for Outstanding Contribution to Emergency Medicine to him. When he retired as chair in 2002, his highly-regarded faculty at LAC+USC had trained more emergency physicians than any other residency program. On the occasion of his retirement, the Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles renamed the emergency department at LAC+USC 'The Gail Anderson, M.D. Department of Emergency Medicine." He was active in civic organizations and served his local community as school board president, high school team physician, and instructor in school health classes. He was an accomplished athlete, including being a champion Navy boxer, a standout college baseball player, an avid golfer, a skillful tennis player, an enthusiastic skier, and an adventurous sailor. While his motto was "the patient comes first' throughout his professional career, he was a loving and caring husband and father known affectionately to his sons and their friends as "Doc" and later, to his grandchildren as "GrampaDoc." The family shared numerous enjoyable times together, among them trips to Hawaii with USC postgraduate medicine programs. Occasionally, he played in vigorous touch football games with his sons and their friends, proving "I still have it." His survivors include his wife Alice; sons Gail Jr., David, Jerrold, Walter, and Mark and their wives and children; his brother Donald; and many nieces and nephews. A memorial service will be held at the Keck School of Medicine at USC on September 19, 2014 at 11 a.m. In lteu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Gail V. Anderson, Sr., M.D., Memorial Fund at the Keck School of Medicine at USC, 1975 Zonal Avenue, KAM 300, Los Angeles, CA 90089. Please contact Stephanie Cypert at 323-442-2352 for information about donations.