Dr. Nicholas Greene

New Haven - Dr. Nicholas Misplee Greene, a leader in the field of anesthesiology, died Tuesday morning, December 28, at the Yale-New Haven Hospital after a long illness. He was 82.

Dr. Greene was a professor of anesthesiology at Yale University School of Medicine and on the staff of Yale-New Haven Medical Center for 32 years. Founder of the Department of Anesthesiology at Yale, Dr. Greene was its chairman and director of the Department of Anesthesiology at Yale Medical Center for 18 years. He was honored in 2002 by the establishment of the Nicholas M. Greene Professorship of Anesthesiology, an endowed chair. A resolute preceptor and mentor in medicine, he devoted himself to teaching, research and patient care: one student remarked that learning anesthesiology from Nick Greene was like learning astronomy from Galileo.

Dr. Greene served 26 years as editor and editor in chief of Anesthesiology and Anesthesia and Analgesia, the two major journals in the specialty in North America. Dr. Greene published several books and over 200 articles reflecting his interests in education and physiologic changes associated with anesthesia, especially those produced by regional and local anesthesia, an interest formed while a fellow at the University of Edinburgh and the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in 1950. He also was a member of surgical and pharmacological advisory committees at the National Institute of Research in Bethesda, Md., in the 1960's and 1970's.

Dr. Greene served as president of the Association of University Anesthesiologists and the New England Societies of Anesthesiology. A member of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the Connecticut Society of Anesthesiologists, the American Society of Regional Anesthesiologists, and the International Anesthesia Research Society, Dr. Greene was awarded several medals for his contributions to anesthesiology, including Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeon's silver medal on the occasion of its bicentennial, as well as medals from the Swedish Society of Anesthetists and the Koller gold medal from the European Society of Regional Anesthesia. He was awarded an honorary master of arts degree by Yale University and honorary fellowship in the English Royal College of Anaesthetists. He was an honorary member of the Japan and Ugandan Societies of Anesthesia.

After becoming Professor Emeritus at Yale University in 1987, Dr. Greene, who previously had worked as a volunteer on the USS Hope and teacher in several East African anesthesia departments, established and worked as director of The Overseas Teaching Program, sponsored by the American Society of Anesthesiologists and the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research. Located at the University of Zambia's Teaching Hospital in Lusaka and the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center in Moshi, Tanzania, the program centered on the hypothesis that teaching medical care to Africans is, in the long term, more effective in improving the quality and availability of medical care than is taking over medical care by westerners.

The son of the late Joseph N. Greene and Nanine Pond Greene Pervere, Dr. Greene was born July 11 in Milford, Connecticut, in 1922. After graduating from Yale College, he earned his medical degree from Columbia University in 1946. After serving as a surgical house officer at Presbyterian Hospital in New York City and as a medical officer in the U.S. Navy, he became a resident in anesthesia at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, later becoming a member of the staff of the Massachusetts General Hospital and the faculty of Harvard Medical School. From Boston, Dr. Greene went to the University of Rochester School of Medicine where he served as a chairman of its Department of Anesthesiology before moving to New Haven in 1955.

Dr. Greene, a patron of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, was a member of the New Haven Lawn Club, the Yale Club of New York City, Christ Church parish in New Haven, the Elihu Club, and the Ladies Aid at Yale. A fervent ornithologist, he was also a member of the American Ornithological Union, the Connecticut Ornithological Association, the American Birding Association, the New Haven Bird Club, and National Audubon Society, The Nature Conservancy and the Manomet Bird Observatory in Massachusetts.

Surviving are his wife of 58 years, the former Elizabeth Miller; a daughter, Cynthia R. Greene of Barnet, Vt.; his son, Nicholas Pond Greene, of London, and his son, Joseph N. Greene II, and wife, Kristin, of Mystic, Connecticut; a brother, Joseph N. Greene Jr.; a sister, Elizabeth G. Luck; and a brother, William M. Greene; six grandchildren; and one great-granddaughter.

He was predeceased by a grandson.

A funeral service will be held at 11a.m. on Friday, December 31, at Christ Church, New Haven.