Denis A. 'Scotty' Boyle, 89, physician

When Denis A. "Scotty" Boyle was hospitalized after an automobile accident in 1995, doctors told him that his spinal-cord injuries were so severe he would never make it to rehab.

Dr. Boyle, a specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation, proved them wrong. Two years later, with his daughter Sherry's support, he walked down the aisle at her wedding.

Dr. Boyle, 89, died Tuesday of a heart attack at home in Devon.

After the accident, he spent a year in therapy at Magee Rehabilitation Hospital, where was on the staff, and became his own best patient. He regained the use of his arms, his daughter Mary Denise Curran said, and, though he used a wheelchair, he was able to stand with support. He could no longer practice medicine, but he attended daily Mass and participated fully in the lives of his 12 children and numerous grandchildren and rarely missed a family event, she said.

Dr. Boyle immigrated to the United States from Scotland with his family when he was 8 and grew up in Ithan. He graduated from Malvern Preparatory School as a scholarship student and earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Villanova University, where he was a member of the boxing club.

During World War II, he served in the Army in the States. He earned a medical degree from Thomas Jefferson University in 1947 and interned at Nazareth Hospital in Philadelphia.

He then returned to the military and served in the Army Medical Corps in Denver.

After his discharge, he joined the staff of Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in Darby and opened a family practice in Havertown.

In the early 1960s, while maintaining his family practice, he completed residencies at Philadelphia General Hospital and Magee in physical medicine and rehabilitation. He eventually established a practice in the specialty in Upper Darby.

In the 1970s, Dr. Boyle was head of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital. From the 1960s until he retired, he was medical director of Villanova University Campus Health Services.

He was also physician to retired Augustinians living on campus. He had a strong affection for Villanova students, priests, and faculty, his family said.

Dr. Boyle was a founding member of the Pro-Life Action Group of the Catholic Physicians Guild.

Before his injury, he was a passionate golfer and was a member of Llanerch Country Club.

Dr. Boyle's wife of 57 years, Barbara Bora Boyle, died in 2004. In addition to his daughters Sherry Bird and Mary Denise Curran, he is survived by sons Denis Jr., Daniel, Timothy, Thomas, and Terrence; daughters Suzanne Manno, Pamela Bemer, Barbara Hackman, Kathleen McGonagle, and Sally Ryan; 35 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

Friends may call from 6 to 9 p.m. today at Stretch Funeral Home, 236 E. Eagle Rd., Havertown.

A Funeral Mass will be said at 9:15 a.m. tomorrow at St. Thomas of Villanova Church on the university campus. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery, West Conshohocken.