IN REMEMBRANCE
IN REMEMBRANCE:
JOHN C. WRIGHT, II, MD
JUNE 16, 1927 - MAY 21, 2020
John Cardwell Wright, II, MD, died on Thursday, May 21,
2020, at age 92. He had been hospitalized and cared for
by a family medicine team from UofL Health, and other
clinicians from Hosparus. Dr. Waqar Saleem, a family
physician and Greater Louisville Medical Society member
who was mentored by Dr. Wright, both in family medicine
residency and in a University of Louisville family medicine
geriatrics fellowship, served him with compassion and medical insights
through his last days. As per Dr. Wright’s preference, he passed
away at home in Simpsonville, Kentucky with his family by his side.
Dr. Wright was a widely honored geriatrician and Professor
Emeritus of the UofL School of Medicine. He dedicated 40 years of
his academic career to improving health care for older adults and
made innovative programs in geriatrics, both at UofL and within
Kentucky, and beyond. He established the John C. Wright Professorship
on Aging to ensure support of a distinguished physician-geriatrician
to guide care of high quality for the elderly at the UofL
School of Medicine Department of Family and Geriatric Medicine.
Dr. Wright was known as “Jack” to his friends and colleagues. He
was born in Sodus, New York on June 16, 1927. He graduated from
Webster High School in 1945, and then served two years active duty
in the Navy from 1945-1946, followed by two additional years of
inactive duty. He also served as a member of the Civilian Air Patrol
during World War II in Webster, New York. Dr. Wright received his
undergraduate degree from the University of Rochester, followed by
his medical degree from the University of Buffalo Medical School
in 1955. He completed a rotating internship at Flower-Fifth Avenue
Hospital in New York City, and then completed a residency in
medicine at Waterbury Hospital in Connecticut in 1957.
Dr. Wright began his clinical and academic careers in New
England. He was in private practice in Manchester, Connecticut
from 1957-1972. He then became Director of the Family Practice
Residency Training Program in Middlesex Memorial Hospital in
Middletown, Connecticut from 1972-1974. He ascended through
academic ranks at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine
in Farmington from 1970-1975, and he was then appointed as Vice
Chairman of the Department of Family Medicine at Wright State
School of Medicine in Dayton, Ohio from 1975-1978.
Dr. Wright was the second Chairman of the UofL School of Medicine
Department of Family Medicine (DFP), from 1978-1981. The
residency training program was then based at St. Anthony Hospital
in Louisville, designated as an “affiliate department” at the UofL
School of Medicine. He was recruited to UofL by founding Chairman
William P. VonderHaar, MD. The political context in medical care
in Louisville at that time was in a state of great flux. The old yellow
brick Louisville General Hospital was to be demolished, a new UofL
Hospital and adjacent Ambulatory Care building were being built,
a consortium of primary care centers were emerging to empower
primary care, and medical insurance was changing – including new
alternative programs for Medicaid, such as Citi-Care in Kentucky.
Dr. Wright’s style as Chairman was person-oriented and favored
new program development. He was a faculty leader, clinician and
educator – all in one. Family practice residents and faculty were
each welcomed as valued medical doctors, with active interests in
the larger scope of clinical services that were associated with an
Dr. Wright was a GLMS member for 41 years.
28 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE