John E. Olson

COOPERSTOWN _ John Eric Olson, M.D., 78, passed away at his home outside of Cooperstown, Tuesday March 16, 2010, after a short battle with cancer. Family members were at his side.

Born on Feb. 29, 1932, to Walter L. and Harriett Olson, in Dwight, Kan., John was the youngest of seven children raised on the family farm.

Walter was regionally recognized as a pioneer in applying modern principles of soil and water conservation on his dry land farm and ranch in the Flint Hills of east-central Kansas.

As the youngest of seven children raised in a rural farming community he learned early on the values of hard work, outdoor adventure and the importance of interpersonal relationships. Among his early role models was the local “horse and buggy” doctor, who had delivered him in the kitchen of his parents farm. By the time he graduated from Dwight High School as valedictorian of the Class of 1949 he dreamt of becoming a physician. John received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas in 1953, and in 1956 was awarded his medical degree with AOA honors from the same institution.

John and Rita met at a college orientation dance in 1951. They married on a beautiful warm early spring day March 7, 1954, in Lawrence, Kan. John and Rita cut two days of classes and honeymooned in the Ozarks. While Rita worked as a physical therapist, John completed medical school.

After graduating from medical school in 1956, Dr. Olson moved his young family to Cooperstown, where he did his internship at the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital. Dr. Olson studied at the Naval School of Aviation Medicine in Pensacola, Fla., from July 1957 to December 1957, and was subsequently assigned as a flight surgeon for Air Transport Squadron Eight, U.S. Naval Air Station Moffett Field, California from January 1958 to December 1959. Dr. Olson then returned to the Bassett Hospital where he was a surgical resident from January 1960 to June 1963. Between July and December, 1963 he served as Harkness Chief Resident Surgeon at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City. His interests in surgical metabolism and endocrinology led to a research fellowship funded by the National Institute of Health to spend a year in the laboratories of Dr. Francis Moore at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston, Mass., in 1964.

To fulfill his dream of living in a rural environment and yet practicing academic surgery, Dr. Olson returned to Cooperstown’s Bassett Hospital as an Attending Surgeon and Director of the Tumor Clinic with an appointment as an Assistant Clinical Professor of Surgery at Columbia University. He directed the ICU from 1969 to 1982. He attained Clinical Professor of Surgery of Columbia University status in 1981. He remained instrumental in the oncology program at the Bassett throughout his career and was appointed Chief of Surgical Oncology in 1992. After a 30 year career, he retired in 1995 holding the title of Professor Emeritus of Surgery, Columbia University.

Olson was equally a clinician with a renowned bedside manner, diagnostic skills and judgment, an excellent technical surgeon, a consummate educator and a clinical researcher. Both as a pratictioner and as a teacher he demanded excellence from himself and others. Dr. Olson pursued his interest in research primarily through clinical trials and over the course of his career helped the Bassett Hospital participate in numerous multi-institutional National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project, and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group studies of the comparative effectiveness of various multimodal treatment regimens for a variety of malignant diseases. His lifelong interests were particularly in breast and endocrine malignancies. He was a member of numerous professional organizations.

John and Rita were classic romantics who loved to travel, explore new places, meet new people and experience their cultural traditions, foods and art. They were privileged to travel extensively in North and South America, Mexico, Europe, South East Asia and China. It was commonplace for them to combine medical outreach efforts with these adventures. Dr. Olson spent two months of the summer of 1972 in Natal, Brazil on the hospital ship HOPE teaching local surgeons modern techniques and principles of surgical care. Rita then joined him for a month-long adventure around South America before returning home. In the fall of 1988, Dr. Olson was a Visiting Professor at the Medical Oncology Development program at Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan. This work grew and between 1992 and 1994 he was the Director and Visiting Professor, Surgical Oncology Training Program again at the Academia Sinica in Taipei. The goal of this endeavor was to introduce into the Taiwanese surgical community an American style surgical oncology fellowship training experience. Rita joined him on many of his trips there to live in Taipei for extended periods as well as to accompany John on more far reaching adventures around Southeast Asia and China.

John was a lifelong conservationist, served as past president and board member of the Otsego County Conservation Association and was an early advocate of improving the water quality of Lake Otsego. As a hunter and angler who insisted on the highest ethics afield, he instilled this same ethic in his sons, was the consummate stickler for gun safety and taught them the finer points of rifle and shotgun shooting and woodsmanship. John was a regular at the Cooperstown Sportsman Association Sunday skeet shoots and had a deep passion for hunting quail, grouse and pheasants over good pointing dogs. Nearly annually he travelled to Kansas, South Dakota or Arizona to hunt with family and old friends. He enjoyed hunting deer and turkeys alone and with good friends near his home on Christian Hill. Known as a fine shot with both shotgun and rifle he could be counted on to provide fare for wild game dinners that were savored with family and friends. John and Rita loved to spend time at their cabin in the Adirondacks relaxing, hiking and trolling flies for trout behind a row boat on nearby lakes. John also enjoyed many opportunities to travel with family and friends to places like Wyoming, Montana, Alaska, Norway, Russia, Belize, Mexico and the Christmas Islands to fly fish for trout, salmon, bonefish, tarpon, etc. At all times he made his best effort to instill his sense of ethics and passion for these activities with those around him.

Survived by his wife of 56 years; his sons, Stephen E. Olson, MD of Harney County, Ore., Thomas G. Olson, of Walla Walla, Wash., and Timothy J. Olson, his wife Paige and their son, John E. Olson of Pierre, S.D.; a brother George W. Olson, DVM of Prairie Village, Kan.; a sister-in-law, Barbara Dunlap of Garden City, Kan.; and numerous nephews and nieces.

A memorial service celebrating his life will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday, April 3, 2010, at the Otesaga Hotel. A reception will follow the service.

Contributions in his memory may be made to Columbia Bassett Medical School, c/o Friends of Bassett, One Atwell Road, Cooperstown, NY 13326 or Catskill Area Hospice and Palliative Care, 1 Birchwood Dr., Oneonta, NY 13820.

Arrangements are with Tillapaugh Funeral Service, Cooperstown and Milford.