IN REMEMBRANCE
IN REMEMBRANCE : ROBERT SIDNEY TILLETT , MD 8 / 1 / 1921-9 / 5 / 2021
Our partner , friend and mentor , Bob Tillett , MD , died on Sept . 5 , 2021 , at the age of 100 years , one month and four days . His was the life of a remarkable man who was a gift to his patients , his partners , his employees , students at the University of Louisville School of Medicine , the medical community of Louisville and especially , his family . We want to highlight Bob ’ s contributions to medicine in Louisville through practice , teaching and leadership . We hope that you will read the wonderful Courier Journal obituary to add to this brief glimpse of Bob ’ s life .
Bob grew up in Akron , Ohio and was a standout in academics and track . He attended the University of Akron and graduated from Ohio University in Athens . He finished the usual four-year Case Western Reserve Medical School curriculum in three years and completed two years of internal medicine residency before being called to active duty in the US Army . He served three years ’ active duty as a Captain including a posting as the Chief Medical Officer of Army Hospital Trieste , Italy , a Cold War hotspot at the time . Bob was conversational in Latin , Italian and German . In Trieste , he would see the Italian wives of American soldiers in the medicine clinic . Sometimes in getting the history , when the wives could not speak English and he got stuck on the correct Italian word , he would try Latin and it usually worked .
During his medical school years , Bob met the incredible woman who would become his wife , North Carolinian Jean Dail , on a street car in Cleveland . Jean was in a dietetics training program at another hospital . In December 2020 , Bob and Jean celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary along with their three sons and their families . Two sons practice medicine , Dr . Robert Tillett Jr ., a neurologist , and Dr . Edward Tillett , an orthopedist . David Tillett taught English at Eastern High School . Each followed the traditions of care and education taught to them by Bob and Jean Tillett .
Following active duty , he spent an additional year of internal medicine training in Chicago and two years in private practice in Goldsboro , North Carolina . In 1954 , the Tilletts came to Louisville at the urging of John Llewellyn , MD , who was Bob ’ s senior resident in Chicago . Early in his practice in Louisville , Bob made house calls . One of his stories was about calling on a madam at her place of business who was in medical distress from her diabetes . Bob had no concerns about going into any part of town and felt safe because the folks knew him ( and his car ) and would look out for him .
Bob was president of the Jefferson County Medical Society for the 1974-1975 term . In the traditional “ Presidential Introduction ” in the Bulletin of the JCMS , Carroll Robie , MD , noted that Bob was a track enthusiast . He helped promote and served at the Mason-Dixon track meets . At the second running of the mini marathon
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