Dr. Samuel L. Karr, a physician and Riverside Hospital chief of staff who as a volunteer pilot flew patients in need to medical facilities, died Friday in Jefferson Manor, Louisville. He was 86.
He had dementia and was in declining health the last year, his wife, Annora Sue Karr, said.
Dr. Karr, a longtime Sylvania Township resident, retired in 1997 from the practice he shared for decades with Dr. Eli Abramson. Their patients were “a lovely mix of people,” Dr. Abramson said. “He was very thoughtful and loved people. He was very sensitive to people’s needs and feelings.”
“He was an old-fashioned, chivalrous kind of guy,” his wife said.
Dr. Karr had been chief of staff at the former Riverside Hospital, where he helped establish a coronary care unit in 1966, which was among the first of its kind in northwest Ohio. He was the hospital’s “physician of the year” in 1989. He taught in retirement at the former Medical College of Ohio.
A pilot who logged about 3,000 hours in the air, he and his wife flew the continent and beyond in their twin-engine Geronimo. With the Volunteer Pilots Association, he flew patients to medical treatment if they didn’t have the means to get there otherwise. He also gave pilot medical examinations for the Federal Aviation Administration.
He played trumpet, bugle, and piano and, at age 40, learned the French horn. He played with the Jewish Community Center Orchestra, later the Sylvania Community Orchestra.
The son of Maurice and Sara Leff Karr, he was born July 1, 1928, in Philadelphia and was a graduate of Central High School there and Temple University school of medicine. He was a first lieutenant in the Navy, stationed stateside during the Korean War.
Surviving are his wife, Annora Sue, whom he married Sept. 26, 1954; sons, Matthew, Joel, and Robert, and four grandchildren.
Memorial services will be at noon Tuesday in The Temple-Congregation Shomer Emunim, Sylvania Township, where he was a longtime member. Arrangements are by Herman Meyer & Son Funeral Directors, Louisville. The family suggests tributes to the Temple.
Contact Mark Zaborney at: mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.
First Published October 4, 2014, 4:00 a.m.
