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In Memoriam: AAP past President Dr. Blim, and more :

July 1, 2020

AAP past president, Dr. Blim

Dr. BlimR. Don Blim, M.D., FAAP, of Overland Park, Kan., died May 11. He was 92.

While AAP president in 1980-’81, Dr. Blim led the Academy in advocating for President Ronald Reagan’s administration to address unmet child and maternal health needs.

He was chair of District VI from 1973-’79, served as vice chair for two years prior and was AAP Missouri Chapter president from 1966-’69. He also chaired the AAP Committees on Third Party Payment Plans and Child Health Care Financing and was a member of the AAP Council on Pediatric Practice. When the AAP planned to move its headquarters from Evanston, Ill., to Elk Grove Village, Ill., Dr. Blim served as co-chair of the AAP Growth for the Future campaign.

He served as president of the Jackson County Medical Society and Southwest Pediatric Society. He also was a member of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation advisory board, Council of Medical Specialty Societies executive committee, American Medical Association (AMA) Pediatric Section Council and an AMA delegate and alternate delegate.

In recognition of outstanding service beyond that required of elected leadership, he received the AAP Clifford G. Grulee Award in 1984. He also was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 1983.

Dr. Blim remained active in the AAP and was a trusted adviser to AAP leaders for 40 years as a loyal participant in a monthly virtual meeting of AAP past presidents, according to Jay E. Berkelhamer, M.D., FAAP, AAP past president (2006-’07).

“He would always provide sage perspectives to current issues using his extensive background in both clinical practice and administration. We relied on him to guide us at our monthly virtual meetings. Most of all, he was a dear friend and mentor to countless pediatricians,” Dr. Berkelhamer said.

During World War II, Dr. Blim served in the South Pacific as a sergeant in the U.S. Army. In 1953, he earned his M.D. from the University of Kansas, where he also completed an internship and residency in pediatrics.

Although he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1954, Dr. Blim had minimal exacerbations until his late 80s, when the disease advanced to secondary progressive stage. Throughout his life, he was an active fundraiser for the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

He established a private practice in Kansas City, Mo., in 1956 that grew to a 10-member pediatric group. After retiring from practice in 1989, Dr. Blim became director of medical affairs and chief medical officer at Saint Luke’s Hospital until 1999.

Dr. Blim is predeceased by his wife, Myrle, and survived by three children and seven grandchildren.                                        

 

Dr. Behrman led Federation of Pediatric Organizations 

Dr. BehrmanRichard “Dick” E. Behrman, M.D., J.D., FAAP, of Santa Barbara, Calif., died May 17 at age 88.

In 1975, he became the first doctor to be board-certified in neonatal-perinatal medicine in the United States. Dr. Behrman also served as the executive of the Federation of Pediatric Organizations (FOPO) from 2002-’07. He was a founding member of the Vermont Oxford Network, a collaboration of more than 1,200 hospitals that provides data analysis and quality improvement guidance for neonatal care around the world.

He played a major role in shaping the early days of Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford. Among numerous leadership roles, he was senior vice president for medical affairs of the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health and senior adviser for health affairs and director of the Center for the Future of Children at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. From 2000 to 2002, he oversaw the Children’s Health Initiative that resulted in the addition of five Centers of Excellence at Packard Children’s Hospital. In 2002, Stanford University School of Medicine and the Lucile Packard Foundation established the Richard E. Behrman, M.D., Professorship in Child Health and Society and Packard Children’s Hospital established the Richard E. Behrman Lectureship.

Dr. Behrman also was vice chair of pediatrics at University of Illinois, chair of pediatrics at Columbia University and chair and dean of Case Western Reserve Medical School. A recipient of the FOPO Joseph W. St. Geme Leadership Award, he was elected into the Institute of Medicine in 1983.

After earning his law degree from Harvard University in 1956, he was inspired to pursue pediatrics by his father-in-law, Waldo E. Nelson, M.D., FAAP, author of Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. Dr. Behrman also served as editor of Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics and launched the journal The Future of Children. He earned his M.D. from the University of Rochester Medical School in 1960 and completed an internship and residency in pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University and Hospitals.

He is predeceased by his wife, Ann, and survived by four children and nine grandchildren.

Additional deaths

Thomas F. Bejgrowicz, M.D., FAAP, of Linden, N.J., died May 26 at age 82.

Shirley E. Dearborn, M.D., FAAP, of Oklahoma City, died May 6 at age 68.

Morris S. Dixon Jr., M.D., FAAP, of Cleveland, died May 16 at age 94.

Ruth Gottlieb, M.D., FAAP, of Haverford, Pa., died May 2 at age 90.

Robert O. Hickman, M.D., inventor of the Hickman line, a central venous catheter often used to deliver nutrition, draw blood and deliver chemotherapy to patients with pediatric cancer, died April 4 at age 92.

Dr. HirschHarvey Hirsch, M.D., FAAP, of Ocean County, N.J., died May 12 of complications from coronavirus at age 68.

James F. Johnson, M.D., FAAP, of Chappaqua, N.Y., died May 6 at age 97.

Bennett A. Kaye, M.D., FAAP, of Chicago, died May 14 at age 67.

Bell C. Laiw, M.D., FAAP, of Bermuda Dunes, Calif., died May 3 at age 75.

Jesus M. Zambrano, M.D., FAAP, of Rosedale, N.Y., died of COVID-19 on March 30 at age 54.

 

To make a gift in memory of a colleague, visit http://donate.aap.org or email the AAP Development Office at [email protected].

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