Emerson, 1st SMH thoracic surgeon, dies

Emerson, one of many doctors in his family, graduated from Harvard University in 1938. He then came to Rochester's School of Medicine and Dentistry and earned his M.D. in 1942, and completed residencies in 1944 and 1946. He became the first chief resident in thoracic surgery at Yale-New Haven Hospital in 1947, but returned to Strong the following year.

While Emerson was considered by his colleagues to be a master surgeon, he also had a strong commitment to his patients.

"He was very much a hands-on, patient-oriented physician," said Kathleen Parrinello, senior director for hospital operations. While maintaining cutting-edge techniques, Emerson "incorporated the interpersonal aspects of medicine," she added. "He had a wonderful bedside manner."

"Medicine has become a business," said Clay Phillips, Emerson's former partner at Strong. "The humanness and giving, the patience, have been wrung out of medicine." But Emerson, Phillips said, "personified the charitable attitude of medicine."

Emerson is survived by his son, Jon Emerson, of North Haven, Maine; his daughter, Lynn Whitney, of Brookville, Maine; two grandsons; one niece; and one nephew. Donations may be made in the name of George and his wife, Marion Emerson, and sent to the Island Community Medical Center, Vinalhaven, Maine, 04863.

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