John M. Agee M.D.

1944 - 2023

BORN

1944

DIED

2023

About

Louisiana State University

John Agee Obituary

John M. Agee MD
August 22, 1944 - April 13, 2023
Sunriver, Oregon - John M. Agee, MD, retired Sacramento hand surgeon, passed away following hospice care. Texas born, John was raised in Lake Charles Louisiana by Pete and Anne Phillips. John lost his WWII veteran father while still a boy.
Encouraged by his new family, John's engineering mind grew from RC model aircraft to orthopedic medicine at Louisiana State University and to bioengineering with the establishment of his Hand Biomechanics Lab (HBL). Along the way he served in the U.S. Air Force, trained under his hero mentors, Drs. Paul Brand and Daniel Riordan, and loved and was proud of his family.
Through HBL, John researched and found solutions for carpal tunnel syndrome, joint replacement and wrist fractures. Earlier in his career his passion for scoliosis care began and continued for many years.
Outside of medicine, John most liked flying, building his airplane, boating, tinkering in his own machine shop/aircraft hangar, all things efficient, brilliant people, the wonder of God's creation-the human body, and most of all walking his beloved canines, Oscar, Sparky, and Mutzy.
In lieu of flowers, John's family requests that donations be made in his name to support their Fund for Pediatric Orthopaedic Hand Surgery at Shriners Children's Northern California Hospital. No public services are planned.
https://donate.lovetotherescue.org/RiordanManskeEndowment

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by The Sacramento Bee on Apr. 23, 2023.

Memories and Condolences
for John Agee

10 Entries

Cynthia Watkins

March 13, 2025

You changed my life in 1976 when I was 18 years old. I had nerve damage and constant stinging, burning pain in my right arm that wouldn't go away. You performed an operation, that at the time was risky. It was a sympathectomy. When I woke up in the recovery room, the pain was gone. Period... it never ever came back!!! I'm in my 60's now and still think fondly of John Agee. God bless your soul.

Edward Stokel, MD

October 9, 2023

Dr. Agee took the time to teach me and made me a better surgeon

Roger Helms

October 6, 2023

I was shot in the army decades ago and had some complications with my leg and foot. My mother had been an army nurse in World War II and she and I left the Navy hospital in Orlando, feeling strongly that what surgery they wanted to do would not work.

Through a circuitous series of connections, I was referred to Dr. Paul Brand in Carville, Louisiana in about 1976. Dr. Brand told me he was training a young physician that showed great promise and he introduced me to Dr. Agee.

It turns out mom and I were right and doctors Brand and Agee planned out a different type of surgery.

Dr. Agee was going to be in Tampa Florida about an hour away from my home. He was kind enough to walk over to the VA hospital and do the surgery on my right foot.

When I met him, I was about 24 and he was about 32 or three and I remember my mom saying"are you sure you want him doing surgery, he´s kind of young " little did we know he would become a world renowned hand surgeon.

I went on to Law School and have had a successful practice for over 40 years now. Folks I have met in my life of Dr.Agee´s, caliber are what motivated me to fight the odds. He is the reason I´m still walking today and I will miss him dearly.

Roger Helms.

Michael Guidera

September 16, 2023

I met Dr. Agee around 1977. I was enrolled in the Biomedical Engineering Masters Program at Cal State University Sacramento. I was looking for a topic for my Masters Thesis when our paths crossed. John had a theory concerning the extensor tendons of the MP joints. He and I worked on this topic to conclusion. He presented the findings of our study at the annual Hand Society Meeting at the AAOS in 1980. He was very proud of our work. He also sent me to Carville to work at the USPHS Hospital, where I was introduced to Dr. Paul Brand and a team of engineers doing research on functional anatomy of the hand. A few years later He asked me to join Him and his staff to help get His new Company, Hand Biomechanics Lab, registered with the FDA, which included establishing all the required systems to legitimately produce and distribute medical devices. I got to know John very well.
He had a brilliant mind. He was also driven to succeed. He put everything into his profession. He was a very competent surgeon with a kind and gentle bedside manner. He was also very creative. He touched so many lives utilizing his wisdom and experience in providing care in the area of his expertise.
He gave me much opportunity to further my growth in my profession, and I will always be greatful to him. Rest in peace, John.

Robert Beach, PT (Ret)

July 14, 2023

So sorry to hear about John. I worked with him at the Hansen´s Disease Hospital at Carville, Louisiana when he was affiliated with Dr. Brand, Dr. Riordan, Judy Bell,CHT and others. He was a genius.

Marilyn

June 5, 2023

So sorry to learn of Dr. Agee´s passing. He had such a brilliant mind and was always a gentleman. One morning many years ago he took time out of his crazy busy schedule to teach Joann Sibley and myself the beautiful intricacies of the hand extensor tendon system. When we arrived he welcomed us and then as a true gentleman helped us off with our jackets and hung them in the closet, all while chatting with his Louisiana accent. He was a patient teacher and it helped me immensely throughout my career as a hand therapist. He would sometimes attend the Problem Hand Clinic seminars and his comments were so insightful. I feel lucky that I knew him. Marilyn Armbruster, retired CHT, OT

Cindy Kerfoot Snyder

May 21, 2023

I met John Agee and his trusty nurse, Elaine Spong, when I was fresh out of PT school in 1980. I was working at Mercy Hospital and he was the only doctor that took the time to stop and introduce himself to me. In 1983 I had a complicated ulnar nerve injured patient and I referred him to John. John always told others, that he was so impressed with my eval of this patient, that he offered me a position as his hand therapist in his office. I said, but I don't know anything about hand therapy! He said "don't worry, I'll teach you." And he did. The first thing he did was to send me to Carville, LA to work with Judy Bell OTR, CHT and Dr. Paul Brand at the National Leprosy treatment hospital. After starting in the office and enduring a steep learning curve of splint making (not something they don't teach in PT school) I became more confident and eventually took the test to become a CHT and passed. Through the years, as the practice changed and the products that John and the men in the lab of Hand Bio Lab invented took off, I became the marketing director and had great fun traveling all over, meeting our surgeon users and seeing the country.
John was not just my employer, he was my friend and advisor. After my father died in 1986, I turned to John for advice on not just professional things, but ethics, morality and health issues. When my youngest son was put in ICU at 15 months with an undiagnosed illness, John was at my side pushing for answers until a spinal tap showed he had meningitis. He treated me and my son for wrist fractures.
He never got angry at me even when I know I made mistakes. He always tried to help me learn from them. He was a great guy and I'm glad I told him before he died how much of an impact he made on my life and how much I loved him. I miss you, Johnny.

Angelo G. Tsakopoulos

April 24, 2023

Dr. Agee was a kind man and a wonderful doctor. As a fellow aviation nut and RC airplane hobbyist, he was wonderful to talk to and reassuring to me as his patient.

Christian Serdahl, MD

April 24, 2023

John, thanks for letting me pretend to fly your plane and teaching me about hospital administrators. Godspeed! Chris

Frank Dupree

April 23, 2023

I had the privilege of working orthopedic nursing with Dr Agee in the middle to late 70s at UCDMC. I will always be grateful for all that I learned from and because of him. I feel blessed to have known him. My best to the family...

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