Dr. Thomas Jui-ting "Tom" Yeh

Dr. Thomas Jui-ting Yeh passed away peacefully on May 19, 2025 at age 96 in the comfort of the home that he and his wife built and surrounded by his loving family. He was born in Tainan, Taiwan, the direct descendent of an uninterrupted line of ten generations of physicians. He graduated first in his medical school class from National Taiwan University and immigrated to the US. He completed his general surgery residency at University of Louisville. There he met Doris who was working as a scrub nurse in the operating room. They soon fell in love and married 67 years ago. With her by his side, he completed his cardiothoracic surgery fellowship at the Medical College of Georgia and the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal. He moved his young family to Savannah, Georgia in 1967 and pioneered the first open-heart surgery program in the region. It was here that he used his skills to save the lives of literally thousands of adults and children in Georgia and beyond. He was esteemed not only as a superb technical surgeon but also for his humility and humanity. To this day, his dedication, work ethic, and clinical outcomes remain unrivaled. He was beloved by his family, patients, and the many people whose lives he touched both in and out of the hospital. Each of his three children chose to follow in his footsteps and went on to become physicians: his son a pediatric heart surgeon, his first daughter a surgical oncologist, and his second daughter an interventional cardiologist.

As Dr. Yeh retired after 41 years in cardiothoracic surgery, he embarked on a second career as a painter and was prolific in creating a body of art that continues to bring great joy to his family and his patients. To many, he will be held in high regard as an accomplished heart surgeon with both skilled and artful hands, but to those who knew him best, he will be remembered as husband, father, grandfather, colleague and friend. Tom Yeh was a renaissance man whose knowledge and curiosity extended far beyond medicine with a passion for learning, teaching, good food, the natural world, geopolitics, art, and music. He was a natural leader with a soft-spoken demeanor punctuated with a quick sense of humor, a radiant smile, and a generous and kind heart.
He is survived by his wife Doris, their two children Thomas Yeh and Jennifer Yeh (Daniel Marrash) and their three beautiful grandchildren, Kathryn Galloway, Thomas Galloway and Christopher Marrash. He is preceded in death by his beloved daughter Karen Anne Yeh.
A visitation will be held Thursday, May 29, 2025 at Fox & Weeks, Hodgson Chapel, Savannah, Georgia.
A private family graveside service will be held at Westover Cemetery in Augusta, Georgia.
We invite you to join us in celebrating the life of Thomas J. Yeh (details to be announced in the future).
In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests donations be made to his alma mater the Medical College of Georgia to honor his legacy for teaching.