Dr. Warren A. Nordin, a long-term chief pathologist and director of clinical laboratories at ProMedica Toledo Hospital, died April 4 at Moore House of St. John’s in Penfield, N.Y. He was 94.

His daughter, Susan Vinocour, said Dr. Nordin suffered a severe stroke four years ago but was making progress until he recently contracted pneumonia.

He tested negative for coronavirus, but his care at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, N.Y., was affected by the ongoing pandemic, she said. He was isolated twice, once while waiting for his test results and again after a nurse who had cared for him tested positive for the virus.

The family had him discharged back to his care facility where he entered hospice and they were able to visit him on a limited basis, Mrs. Vinocour said.

“We had a couple hours a day with him,” she said.

Dr. Nordin was born Aug. 12, 1925 in La Grange, Ill., to Harry and Alta Nordin.

He graduated high school in the midst of World War II and was drafted into the Navy.

Based on the results of an aptitude test, he was funneled into the Navy’s V-12 college training program and sent to Duke University. He then completed medical school in Loyola University Chicago’s Stritch School of Medicine in 1949 and served an internship there.

The world war had ended, but he was called back into service to serve as a general physician at an Army air base in Texas from 1950 to 1952 during the Korean War.

He moved to Toledo in 1955 for a position at Mercy Health St. Vincent Hospital and went on to complete a four-year residency in pathology at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

In 1964, he was named the chief pathologist and director of clinical laboratories at Toledo Hospital where he did not care directly for patients, but managed an integral part of the diagnostic side of medicine.

“He really like the scientific aspects of it,” Mrs. Vinocour said. “He liked the diagnostic puzzle and consulting with other physicians. ... He really liked the complexity and the challenge of laboratory medicine.”

Dr. Nordin led the hospital’s laboratory services through immense change and growth both in the medical field and at that particular facility.

“He came into it at a time where there were great scientific leaps where they were able to quantify what was going on with a patient,” Mrs. Vinocour said. “He was fascinated by it all. And he later saw that computers were going to be an incredible tool.”

He retired in the late 1989 after 25 years.

Outside of medicine. Dr. Nordin was an avid sportsman and athlete.

He competed in the Penn Relays in track and played basketball at Duke, but also sailed, cycled, and climbed mountains. In his 40s, he took up tennis and was once ranked seventh nationally in men’s senior tennis doubles.

“He had a great spirit of play and adventure,” Mrs. Vinocour said. “He would get this twinkle in his eyes. He was still boyish and playful all his life. He taught us a love of adventure and of the outdoors. ... He loved to be active. It was a great stress reliever, and he was good at it so it was satisfying.”

Coming from a musical family, the doctor was also a musician. He played trumpet and French horn, and later taught himself classical guitar in his retirement.

He married the former Phyllis Eck on July 10, 1948. They had three children together and built a new home on Tantara Drive in Sylvania Township in 1968. She was a vocalist as well as an accomplished artist, so Dr. Nordin also began exploring art after retirement.

“He began doing really intricate pen and ink drawings,” his daughter said. “She probably just had stuff around and he picked it up. He always liked trying something new. It was the same with photography. He went on to take a course from Ansel Adams at Yosemite [National Park].”

“He was very intense in his interests,” Mrs. Vinocour continued. “He would start at the beginning and take it as far as he could take it until he felt he mastered it, and then he’d start something new. He was never bored and was always learning something new. He was a guy with a lot of gifts.”

Dr. Nordin and his wife moved to Rochester, N.Y., about 15 years ago when Mrs. Nordin’s health declined.

His wife died of cancer in 2013, and he moved to Sarasota, Fla., for about three years before returning to New York after his stroke. He was left with serious physical limitations but remained “smart as a whip and funny as they come,” his daughter, who also lives in Rochester, said.

“He loved puns and was always making a joke,” she said.

Surviving are his daughter Susan Vinocour; son Paul Nordin; three grandsons, and five great-grandchildren.

Dr. Nordin was buried alongside his wife and younger son, Eric, at Toledo Memorial Park. A celebration will be held in the Rocky Mountains this summer.

The family suggests tributes supporting the arts, music, or national parks.

First Published April 20, 2020, 4:00 a.m.