John Bernard Flick Jr.

Dr. John Bernard Flick Jr. (92), a Bryn Mawr thoracic surgeon, passed away Saturday, March 24, 2012, at his home in Wynnewood, PA after a long illness. He is survived by his wife, Elaine Fey Hassold, two children, Dr. James T. Flick (Ellie) of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada and Louise Flick (Bill True) of St. Louis, Missouri and four grandchildren: Dr. Julie Flick of Titusville, Fla., Dr. Michael Flick (Carrie), of Birmingham, Alabama, Evan True and Will True, both of Brooklyn, New York. He was predeceased by his parents, Dr. John B. Flick, Sr and Ardis Marie Tanguay Flick of Gladwyne, two sisters, Ann Garrison (Edward) and Ardis Parrot (Perry) and former wife Ruth Hamlin Flick. John Flick grew up in Bryn Mawr and Gladwyne, attended Lower Merion schools and graduated from Haverford College. He received his medical degree from the University of Rochester Medical School, Rochester, New York, and did his residencies at the University of Pennsylvania and Jefferson Medical College. As a young physician he worked with Dr. John Gibbon at Jefferson Medical College on the development of the heart lung machine, which is considered one of the great advances in medicine of the twentieth century. This work was featured in 1950 in Life Magazine. During World War II he worked on medical research for the Manhattan Project and later entered the Navy serving as a physician with the rank of Lieutenant, jg. After the war he joined his father's (John B. Flick, Sr's) surgical practice in Bryn Mawr and worked with him until Dr. Flick Sr. retired, and then continued in solo practice. He volunteered with the American Lung Association (ALA) for many years, which had been founded in Philadelphia as the TB Society by his grandfather, Dr. Lawrence Flick. Dr. Flick, Jr. was an avid and early campaigner against smoking as a cause of lung cancer before widespread acceptance of the dangers of tobacco smoke by researchers and health professionals. As early as the mid-1950s, when the majority of doctors and nurses smoked, he spoke to community and professional groups about the risks of smoking and kept sections of tobacco-blackened lung under glass on his office desk. Notable surgical cases in his career included the successful removal of a bullet from inside a 9-year-old girl's heart in 1957. This was done without use of the heart lung machine and while the heart was beating. He also operated on Norman Rockwell's son to repair a severe chest injury from a college fencing accident. Dr. Flick retired from his Bryn Mawr surgical practice at age 55 and moved to Searsport, Maine, seeking a simpler life. From 1977 and into the 1990s, he worked in the Waldo County General Hospital emergency room in Belfast, Maine. He returned to the Philadelphia area in 1996, residing in Wynnewood until his death. His two physician grandchildren carry on the family medical tradition, comprising the fifth consecutive generation of physicians in the Flick family. A Funeral service will be held in the Chapel at West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Belmont Ave, Bala Cynwyd at 11:00 A.M. on Friday April 20, 2012 where relatives and friends may call starting at 10:00 A.M. Internment to follow. Memorial contributions may be made to: Bryn Mawr Hospital, Bryn Mawr, PA, the American Lung Association or the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia, PA. Arrangements by Stuard Funereal Home, Ardmore.