John Francis Coyle II

1947 - 2025

John Francis Coyle II

Jul 16, 1947 - Mar 13, 2025

John Francis Coyle II died March 13, 2025, of complications from multiple myeloma. He was born July 16, 1947, in Independence, Kansas, to John Francis Coyle and Winifred Vrooman Coyle. He attended Holy Name School and Field McKinley High School in Coffeyville, Kansas. A Summerfield Scholar, he graduated from the University of Kansas summa cum laude where he majored in French and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He was a member of Beta Theta Pi and a prime author of the Rock Chalk in 1969. He graduated from the University of Kansas Medical School. There he was a member of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society and he initiated a note-taking service for students which exists to this day. While in medical school he participated in externships at Johns Hopkins Medical School and the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh, where he worked with Desmond Julian, a pioneer cardiologist who introduced the concept of coronary care. In 1974, he married Katherine "Kathie" Gallagher Coyle. He did his internship and residency at the University of Pennsylvania where he spent a rotation at the American Hospital in Paris. After completing his fellowship in cardiology at the University of Utah, he and Kathie moved to Tulsa in 1978. He practiced at St. John Medical Center where he served on the Medical Executive Committee and chaired the Informatics Committee. He also ran the St. John Cardiovascular Institute Symposium for many years. He was a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Oklahoma Medical School at Tulsa and served as President of the Tulsa Chapter of the American Heart Association.

Beloved by his family and his patients, Dr. Coyle had a special talent and interest in computers and software technology. He created a website, The Zunis Foundation (www.zunis.org), that contains a collection of materials relating to cardiology. He created a computer interface for medical records that is used in numerous institutions. He was also an expert on heat stress and athletics. He fielded questions on this topic from all over the world and published an important article on the subject in Cohn's Current Therapy. He was a kind and humble man with a great sense of humor who treated all his patients, be they billionaires or paupers, in the same respectful manner. He traveled to Coffeyville to see patients every week for thirty-five years. He received many awards for teaching medical students. He loved to ski and to play golf. Whenever an insect landed on his golf ball as he was about to hit it, he would always wave it away and cheerily say: "No pilots!" His grandchildren adored their "Pops" and he loved to tell them stories and explain the way that various things worked.

He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Kathie, and their sons and their families: John and Lauren Coyle, Leah, David, and Emma, Chapel Hill, NC; Ryan and Kate Coyle, Ryan, James, and Julia, Darien CT; Tyler Coyle and Martha Fulford, Matthew and Emily, Denver, CO; his siblings and their families: Chris and Sue Coyle, Carbondale, CO; Bob and Pat Coyle, Atlanta, GA; David Coyle and Denise Kessler, Lawrence, KS; Mary and David Kite, Santa Fe, NM. The family would like to express their deepest gratitude to Angel Green, Earlene Ross, Your Family Caregivers, and Beehive Homes of Glenpool for their unwavering care and support. In lieu of flowers the family has requested that donations be made to the Mayo Clinic. A memorial service will be held at Sharp Chapel at the University of Tulsa, 800 South Tucker Drive, Tulsa at 11 a.m. on Monday, March 17, 2025.