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Dr. John D. Tolmie, a retired anesthesiologist and Rear Admiral in the United States Navy Reserve, died March 22nd after a long illness. He was born in Toronto, Canada on August 12, 1933 to Sadie Bentley Tolmie and Duncan Arnott Tolmie, and moved to Geneva NY at the end of World War 11 with his family. He graduated from Geneva High School as president of the senior class and winning the Masonic student’s citizenship award for the outstanding citizen of the senior class. He received his baccalaureate degree at Hobart College, where he won basketball numerals and a letter in lacrosse. He earned both his M. D. C. M. degrees at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, where he was a member of Nu Sigma Nu Fraternity. A rotating internship followed at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal. Shortly thereafter he married the former Sigrid Joan Hamlin in Ottawa, Canada. After serving briefly on staff at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Montreal, he was commissioned as an Ensign and then Lt. in the U. S. Navy and assigned as squadron medical officer for MINRON-9 (Minesweeper Squadron 9), stationed in Long Beach, CA. He and his wife lived in Long Beach for one year, and their daughter, Suzie, was born there. He was then transferred to NOTS (Naval Ordinance Test Station) China Lake, in the Mojave Desert, where their daughter, Kim, was born. While serving for 2 years as a general medical officer at the Station Hospital there, he attended the Navy Deep Sea Diving School in Washington DC, and was certified as a Diving Medical Officer. They next moved to Haddonfield NJ, where he trained at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital in Philadelphia PA., and their son, Ian, was born. Dr. Tolmie took one-year residencies in both general surgery and otolaryngology, and then completed his anesthesiology residency. His next assignment was to Guam, Marianas Islands, where he was commissioned as a Commander, and served as Chief of Anesthesiology at USNH Guam. He received the presidential unit citation for casualty care during the Tet Offensive of the Vietnam War. The Tolmies then moved to Camp Lejeune NC, where Dr. Tolmie was also Chief of Anesthesiology. In June of 1970, he led a medical team from Camp Lejeune which joined two other Navy medical teams aboard the LST4-USS GUAM to care for victims of the catastrophic earthquake in Peru. In 1970, Dr. Tolmie left active duty in the Navy as a Commander to join the Anesthesiology Department at Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem NC, but would serve in the Naval Reserve for the next 20 years. He was an assistant professor in the Department of Anesthesia at BGSM for four years, and then became an associate professor in that department. In 1975 he became Associate Dean of Student Affairs at the medical school, then Associate Dean for Student Services, and in 1989 became Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, a post which he held for seven years. In 1990 Tolmie was awarded the Legion of Merit from President George Bush for " exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service as Deputy Atlantic Fleet Surgeon from March 1984 through September 1990". He retired from the Naval Reserve in 1990. His last service was a 10-day tour of duty as acting Atlantic Fleet Surgeon as part of Operation Desert Shield. After retiring from this position, he taught anatomy and then became the first Director of Emeritus Affairs at Wake Forest University Medical School until May, 2000, when he retired completely from medical academia. During his tenure at the medical school, Dr. Tolmie served on the Promotions Committee, Faculty Executive Council and Committee on Medical Education. He was a consultant for the Naval Reserve Medical Committees at both Camp Lejeune and Portsmouth VA, an onsite visitor for the Council on Accreditation of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists, and secretary/treasurer for the Southern Regional Group on Student Affairs of the American Association of Medical Colleges, as well as Vice-Chairman and Chairman of this same organization. He was National Director for Naval Reserve Anesthesia Affairs, a member of the Advisory Committee for Medical Students of the North Carolina State Medical Society, and a member of the Reserve Affairs Committee of the Society of Consultants of the Armed Forces. He was a member of the Society of Medical Consultants of the Armed Forces, a charter member of the American Pain Society, and a member of the Naval Reserve Medical Flag Council. He served as Navy Representative to the Department of Defense Reserve Components Medical Council and Executive Council Member of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States (AMSUS). In 1987-88, he was an associate professor in the Department of Anesthesia of the McMaster University Faculty of Medicine in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. While there, he studied a model Canadian medical education program, small group Problem Based Learning, (based on a method of teaching developed at Harvard University called Case-Based Learning) which he returned to help implement at Bowman Gray School of Medicine. This mode of teaching is still being used at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Dr. Tolmie gave a number of scientific presentations on such wide-ranging topics as acupuncture, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, anesthesia problems in various types of patients, recovery room issues, pain management, and medical education matters. He and his colleague, Dr. Alexander Birch, co-authored a popular textbook for medical students entitled Anesthesia for the Uninterested, which was translated into seven languages, and printed in two editions. Of his published medical journal articles, one, in particular, contained groundbreaking information. In the Journal of Anesthesiology (1967), he and Dr. Thomas Joyce and Dr. George Mitchell wrote an article entitled "Succinylcholine Danger in the Burned Patient". This was a common drug used at the time for patients having general anesthesia, and these researchers discovered that it was responsible for causing cardiac arrest. Dr. Tolmie also served on the vestries of both St. John’s Episcopal Church on Guam and St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Winston-Salem. He is survived by his wife of over 50 years, Joan, his daughter Suzie and her husband Rusty and their children Hamlin, Ian and Raef, of Nashville TN, his daughter Kim and her husband Brad and their children Wellsley, Madison and Bryn of Atlanta GA and his son Ian and his wife Jennifer and their children Dodge and Duncan of Seattle WA. He is sadly predeceased by his dear grandson Dane of Seattle WA. He is also survived by his three brothers-in-law, Howard Hamlin of Collingwood ON, Canada, Bill Hamlin of Canandaigua NY, and Geof Hamlin of Ottawa ON, Canada and their families. He will be missed by many for his integrity, kindness, irrepressible sense of humor, and encyclopedic knowledge concerning WW11 and military aviation, as well as automobiles and sports. He served also as a constant source of medical knowledge and advice for his family, friends and neighbors. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to: Institute for Systems Biology, 401 Terry Ave. N., Seattle WA 98109, Attn: Sissy Bouchard(in memory of Dane Tolmie). A memorial service will be held on Saturday, April 4th at 3:30 pm at Cavin-Cook Funeral Home and Crematory, 494 East Plaza Drive, Mooresville NC, 28115. Tel: (704) 664-3363. www.cavin-cook.com. A reception will follow at Trump National Golf Club, 120 Trump Square, Mooresville, NC 28117 (the Village Ballroom also called the Meeting House). Tel: (704) 799-7300.

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John Duncan Tolmie

August 12, 1933 - March 22, 2015