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John Hardy Fitchen, MD
John was born in Hamilton, N.Y., the son of an English teacher and an architectural scholar. Like his parents, John had a lifelong thirst for knowledge and limitless curiosity about all things and all people. He was a great listener, teacher, physician, writer, nature lover, and avid birder. In 1959, well before matriculating at Amherst College, where he was a Beta and rugby player, John was awarded one of his proudest life achievements, Camp Lanakila's highest Viking honor, the Odin. In 1971, he received his MD from the University of Rochester School of Medicine just days after marrying Ellen Jane Citron in New York City. John took his bride west to Oregon, where he interned at University of Oregon Medical School (now OHSU), and after a stint in the U.S. Air Force as a flight surgeon, he completed his training with a fellowship in hematology at UCLA Medical Center. Returning to Oregon in 1981, John took a faculty position as associate professor of medicine at OHSU to teach and do research. While at OHSU, he was a member and then chair of the Medical Research Foundation and sat on the OHSU Foundation board. He was honored as an emeritus professor of medicine and voted best teacher by his students several years running. In 1985, he took on the challenge of building and expanding the research division of the newly rebuilt Portland VA Hospital. By 1990, he joined the ranks of a vibrant biotech company as medical director and VP of research. The company was Epitope, the first to secure FDA approval for an oral test for HIV. His entrepreneurial pursuits continued through the aughts as his company Catalyst Biomedical identified promising startups in the scientific community. Outside of his professional life, John's passions were birding and writing. He led Christmas bird counts, sat on the board of Portland Audubon, did a "big year" in Multnomah County, which he documented and expanded on in his 2004 Birding Portland and Multnomah County guide. He chronicled his birding adventure on Attu, Alaska's western-most Aleutian Island, in Attu: Birding on the Edge, published by the American Birding Association and in the Atlantic Magazine. In 2019, John published his pièce de resistance, Life Through the Lens of a Doctor-Birder, a memoir and an ode to birding. John is survived by his wife, Ellen; his sons Matthew and Martin; and his three beautiful grandchildren, Seamus, Levi, and Cecily. He was a gentleman and a scholar with the common touch. We loved him dearly. Published by The Oregonian from Mar. 12 to Mar. 17, 2024. Copyright © 2004 - 2024 - Ekim Notnud
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