John Tucker, children's ear, nose, throat doctor
Dr. John A. Tucker was "an innovator" in his specialty, son-in-law Gordon Mathews said, "developing laryngological instruments that became essential tools in his field."
Dr. John A. Tucker was "an innovator" in his specialty, son-in-law Gordon Mathews said, "developing laryngological instruments that became essential tools in his field."
Among them, Mathews said, was a type of mediastinoscope, an instrument that cuts into the chest above the breastbone to examine problems between the lungs.
The instrument is known as the John A. Tucker mediastinoscope, a medical dictionary states.
On Tuesday, April 12, Dr. Tucker, 86, of Avalon, N.J., who retired in 2011 after a career as a children's ear, nose and throat specialist at hospitals in Philadelphia, died of Parkinson's disease at Cape Regional Medical Center.
Dr. Tucker was president of the American Broncho-Esophagological Association in 1984 and president of the American Laryngological Association in 1997-98.
For 25 years, he was in charge of successive programs at three Philadelphia hospitals.
He was director of the Institute of Laryngology - the specialty that deals with the larynx - at Hahnemann University from 1973 to 1984.
He was section chief of pediatric otolaryngology - the ear, nose, and throat specialty - at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children from 1984 to 1989.
And he was chairman of the division of otolaryngology at Albert Einstein Medical Center from 1989 to 1998.
In his final appointment, he was an adjunct professor of head and neck surgery from 2008 to 2011 at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Dr. Tucker was the son of the late Dr. Gabriel F. Tucker Sr. and brother of the late Dr. Gabriel F. Tucker Jr., also specialists in his field.
In 1991, the American Laryngeal Association gave its Gabriel F. Tucker Award, named to honor his father and his brother, to Dr. Tucker.
Ian Jacobs, associate professor of pediatric otolaryngology at the University of Pennsylvania and Children's Hospital, had known Dr. Tucker for the last 15 years. They met when Dr. Tucker became a colleague at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
"He was one of the kindest, nicest men around," Jacobs said. "He just took me under his wing."
Born in Bryn Mawr, Dr. Tucker graduated from Georgetown Preparatory School in North Bethesda, Md., spent a postgraduate year at the Haverford School, and earned a bachelor's degree in 1953 at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a lineman on a football team for those weighing less than 150 pounds, Mathews said.
Dr. Tucker graduated in 1957 from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and was a resident in his specialty at the University of Pennsylvania.
He fulfilled his military obligation as Army chief of the otolaryngology section at the former Valley Forge General Hospital in Phoenixville from 1961 to 1963.
During his career, his resumé states, Dr. Tucker wrote or contributed to 50 peer-reviewed papers in research journals.
He was a member of the Yacht Club of Stone Harbor.
Dr. Tucker also is survived by wife Mary Jane; sons John Jr., Paul, and Sean, daughter Laura Cromwell; stepchildren Bradford Gallagher and Tiffany Gallagher Mathews; and six grandchildren. His former wife, Gail Ann Tucker, died in 1985.
Services took place on Saturday, April 16.
Donations may be sent to the National Parkinson Foundation, Suite 800, 200 S.E. First St., Miami, Fla. 33131.
Condolences may be offered to the family at www.radzieta.com.
610-313-8134@WNaedele