Dr. H. Mead CAVERT

1922 - 2016

of St. Paul, formerly of Minneapolis Died November 4, 2016 ~ Age 94 Henry Mead Cavert was born 3/30/1922, the son of William Lane and Mary Mead Cavert of St. Paul. The family lived during most of Mead's childhood in Anoka, MN, where he learned his father's values of thrift and honest toil by tending a large vegetable garden and raising poultry. After graduating from Anoka High School, Mead attended the University of Minnesota, earning a B.S. degree in agricultural biochemistry (1942), an M.D. (1951) and a Ph.D. in physiology (1952). During his freshman year at the U, Mead met his one-and-only sweetheart, June Sederstrom of Litchfield, MN, and they pledged their futures to each other before he graduated and answered the call to military service in the national mobilization following Pearl Harbor. Mead served in the China-Burma-India theater of World War II in the meteorological service of the U.S. Army Air Corps, attaining the rank of captain. He married June on 1/27/1946, just ten days after returning stateside. (They celebrated their 70th anniversary this past winter.) They had three sons, John, Harlan and Winston, who grew up in the family home in South Minneapolis. After finishing his graduate studies in 1953, Mead enjoyed a career of almost four decades in the University of Minnesota faculty and administration, serving as professor of physiology and associate dean of the Medical School. During a "golden era" of the Medical School, Mead was its operational chief and served twice as its interim dean. He was one of the founders of the Minnesota Medical Foundation, which raised philanthropic support for health sciences at the U. He was co-author of a widely-used physiology textbook, The Machinery of the Body, 5th edition, published in 1961. Among his proud professional accomplish-ments was helping to shepherd the Medical School program that trained hundreds of young physicians for practice in underserved communities in Minnesota. Mead and June enjoyed a mid-career sabbatical in Scotland in 1961-62 while Mead was a visiting faculty member at the University of Edinburgh--a unique horizon-expanding experience for their young children. When Mead retired in 1992 and his colleagues honored him at a festive dinner, the event helped his grandchildren to understand that their grandpa was an impressive person who was widely respected and admired; previously they mostly thought his importance was in taking the dog on bike rides and in cooking pancakes on Saturday mornings. Mead and June have long been active in many charitable and community organizations, especially their church and the YMCA. They have been generous patrons, financially and personally, of immigrants, the homeless and the hungry, as well as supporters of the arts and advocates for environmental protection. Since they both came from families with farm backgrounds, they enjoyed fresh air, good soil and healthy plants. Mead avidly pursued his avocations of vegetable gardening and bird-watching into his early 90s. He hosted the family at numerous Shakespeare performances, and he entertained himself and his family by composing charmingly bad poetry to commemorate birthdays and anniversaries. Past the age of 80, he could be found canoeing, camping and cooking over open fires in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness with his children and grandchildren, and he continued to enjoy spending time along Minnesota's lakes since then. He loved singing around a campfire, at church or basically anywhere. He knew by heart an endless repertoire of hymns, camp songs, and the fight songs of a stunning number of colleges and universities. Mead was predeceased by his parents, his sisters, Jane Mitchell and Elizabeth Miller, and his son John. He is survived by his loving wife, June; his sons, Harlan Cavert (Linda Odegard) and Winston Cavert (Carol Witte), all of Minneapolis; his grandchildren, William Cavert (Katie Wegner), Elizabeth (Nick) Scheibel, Elspeth Witte Cavert and Johan Witte Cavert; his great-grandchildren, Diana Wegner Cavert and Samuel Wegner Cavert; and countless relatives, friends and esteemed colleagues and students. Thanks to Fairview Home Care and Hospice for their attentive care during Mead's final weeks. Memorials are preferred to: University of Minnesota Foundation, PO Box 860266, Minneapolis, MN 55486-0266, designated to the Dr. H. Mead and June S. Cavert Scholarship (fund #13778) for the benefit of students in the Medical School; or Central Lutheran Church Foundation, 333 So. 12th St., Minneapolis, MN 55404, designated to youth or global ministries or Camp Amnicon. Friends, relatives and everyone will be welcomed at a memorial service at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 8, 2017, at Central Lutheran Church, 333 So. 12th St. in downtown Minneapolis, with visitation starting at 1 p.m.