David M. Kesterson MD

Dave M. Kesterson MD was born in Cincinnati on December 19, 1944, to his parents Regina Mills and Marc Kesterson. He attended St Margaret Mary Catholic School in North College Hill. From there he attended St Xavier High School and then college at Xavier University, where he was a HAB scholar majoring in Classical Languages. He completed 8 years of Latin and 6 years of Classical Greek. In addition to those courses, he majored in Pre-Med. This was followed by 4 years of at the University of Cincinnati Medical School.
During Dave's 2 years of medical school, he volunteered at Shriners Burn Institute where he met his wife Gail Simpson, who was working as a Nurse there. By chance they went out for pizza. One year later they were married, December 13, 1969. After finishing medical school, he accepted a surgical residency at Wilmington Medical Center, Delaware. In July 1972, the US Army asked him to, "Please report 1 August 1972 to Fort Sam Houston". After 1 month of training, Dave was assigned to Chuncheon, South Korea, 4th US Missile Command. Gail was able to join him to Korea. After his tour there as General Medical Officer, with the rank of Captain, he was assigned to Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. He was honorably discharged in July 1974, and Dave & Gail returned to Cincinnati.
Dave completed his surgical residency at Good Samaritan Hospital. He was a General Surgeon for 18 years until a medical issue which forced his retirement.
Dave was fortunate to be able to recover and begin full time traveling with Gail. First trips were by motorhome to Mexico, with limited Spanish. Every winter from 1999-2005 for 3 months a different area of Mexico was selected for explore. This evolved into motorhome travel throughout Europe. First trip was Ireland, home of Gail's ancestors, followed by Scotland, England, Wales, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, and Germany. To access other countries, European Riverboat Cruises started. The overall ultimate favorite trip was Egypt and Israel.
In 1975 our daughter Stephanie followed by Kevin in 1977. Stephanie married Dave Tomlinson in 2005. They had 2 daughters, Kamryn (14) and Avery (12). Kevin married Mindy in 2003. They had 2 daughters, Kaitlyn (14) and Madelyn (11).
After his heart attack in December 2019, he was still able to travel to see his granddaughters and children. Life was good until the second heart attack in October 2023.
Dave was a wonderful husband, father, grandfather, son, and brother. The past 3.5 years he lived life to the fullest, knowing he was ill. Even to the end he was reading history books and working on his computer. His knowledge of history and geography was phenomenal.
He was well loved and will be deeply missed.
Memorials to David M. Kesterson MD scholarship fund at St Xavier High School (mail to: Development Office, 600 W North Bend Rd, Cincinnati, OH 45224-1499) or Shriners Hospital for Children https://donate.lovetotherescue.org/give/119312/#!/donation/checkout?utm_source=shrinerschildrens&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=donateheader&utm_campaign=shrinerschildrens&c_src=shrinerschildrens&c_src2=header
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023, at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, 7820 Beechmont Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45255 at 10:30am. Friends may visit the Church on Saturday from 9:30am-10:30am.