LeRoy Pesch MD

Dr. LeRoy “Roy” Pesch passed away Saturday, June 19th at St. Luke’s in Boise after a long illness. He was surrounded by his family and we were able to celebrate his life together.
Dr. Pesch was an incredibly accomplished and self-made man. He grew up in the rural community of Rowen, Iowa, the son of educators. Roy's Father, Herbert Lindsey Pesch, was Superintendent of Schools for Rowan, Iowa for 31 years and instilled in him a great love of education. His Mother, Mary Clarissa (Tyner) Pesch, was also an educator, a teacher of music, and gave him his love of Music and the Arts. He graduated from high school at the age of 16, attended U of Iowa, Iowa State and then graduated Magna Cum Laude from Washington University Medical School where he received his MD in 1956. He was also a member of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, National Eagle Scout Assoc. (and a Troop leader for many years).

Roy was in many singing groups (including the "Varsity Eight" at Iowa State) and wanted to be an opera singer. He followed Medicine instead and had a distinguished career. He progressed rapidly in Medicine and was the youngest Dean of a Medical School when he was appointed Assoc. Dean of Stanford Medical School at the age of 34. While at Stanford, Roy was the "liver Specialist" on the first heart transplant team in this country under Dr. Norman Schumway.

His CV is listed in many different publications of “Marquis Who’s Who” in: American Education, Medicine & Health Care, Science & Engineering, Finance & Industry, America, and the World.

He has recently been nominated by ABI (American Biological Institute) for inclusion in a special edition of “Great Minds of the 21st Century” – a major reference directory including just 1,000 of the world’s top thinkers and intellectuals.

Early in his medical career, an enduring memory was being part of a team that built a clinic for the Ch’ol Indians in the jungles of Chiapas Mexico. He served three Presidents through the NIH (National Institute of Health) and wrote much of the original Health Care legislation and was published in many prestigious Medical Journals.

Some other highlights of his medical career were:

Assistant Professor of Medicine and Assoc. Director of the liver study unit at Yale University School of Medicine.

Professor of Medicine and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the Rutgers Medical School, Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey.

Professor of Medicine and Dean of the School of Medicine, the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Professor of Medicine and Biological Sciences, the University of Chicago and President of the Michael Reese Medical Center, Chicago.

Professor of Pathology at the Northwestern University School of Medicine, Chicago.
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health (Manpower) in the Department of Health Education and Welfare, Wash. D.C.

After a successful career in Biochemical Research, Clinical Medicine, Medical Center Administration and Public Service, Dr. Pesch formed the Pesch Group of Companies in 1983. An integral element of the corporate strategy was an emphasis on preventative medicine – this focus recognized society’s need to reduce overall consumption of high cost “illness care” through the application of health risk management and the active promotion of better health.

He sold his Hospital Corporation of America (HRCA) to Republic Health and was working on developing and licensing a portable (size of a credit card) laser encrypted card with a medical application that could hold 1800 pages of information, including photo's, x-rays and MRI's. The card also had global implications as it could carry all medical, personal, banking, travel, finance, etc. information in 15 different security-coded levels. He was truly a visionary and always way ahead of the pack. Dr. Pesch had a very close personal and business relationship with his Father-in-Law, W. Clement Stone. They were attempting to gain a majority control of Republic Health as that was to be the distribution vehicle for "The Card". Unfortunately, his business career was severely sidetracked when Republic Health filed for bankruptcy and the financial fallout was unrecoverable.

He was always a great supporter of the Arts - on the executive boards of the Joffrey Ballet, Lyric Opera and the Auditorium Theater to name just a few. He was giving and philanthropic in many areas and was involved (with second wife, Donna) in organizing the NAPCA - National Assoc. for the Prevention of Child Abuse.

His proudest legacy was to Father and raise four successful sons and two step children. Three of his sons were with his first wife, Barbara - Christopher Allen Pesch (dob 1957, wf: Marianne, children: Olivia, Patrick) is a partner with the Chicago Law firm of Locke, Lord Bissell & Liddell, Brian Lindsey Pesch (dob 1959 - wf: Dr. Alida Near, children: Tessa, Alex) is a business owner and commercial developer in the Denver area, and Dr. Daniel Ethan Pesch (dob 1963, wf: Ellen, children: Meghan, Ryan) has recently accepted the position of Head of Obstetrics at Martha's Vineyard Hospital after serving on the medical staff of Lutheran General Hospital (Chicago) as Head of the Intern program and OB-GYN physician. He raised two step children with his second wife, Donna Stone Pesch (deceased 1985) - Christopher Kneifel (dob 1961) who has lead a long, successful career in professional auto racing and Linda Kneifel (deceased 2009). With third wife, Gerri, he fathered son, Tyner Ford Pesch (dob 1987) who is a college student at Univ. Calif - Berkeley, and who seems to be following in his Father's foot steps with his passion for Theater & the Arts and his Academic strong-point in the Sciences.

Roy was preceded in death by his parents, Herbert and Mary Pesch, his brother, Carl Herbert Pesch, his sister, Dorothy Kehres and his second wife Donna Stone Pesch, her daughter Linda Kneifel and her parents, W. Clement and Jessie Stone (both lived to be 100 years old).

He was much loved and his quietly commanding physical presence will be missed, but his wonderful spirit will always be with us.

In lieu of flowers please consider making donation to the Croy Canyon Ranch Foundation, P.O Box 640, Hailey, Idaho, 83333.