Copyright The Philadelphia Inquirer
Clyde F. Barker, 93, of Haverford, renowned pioneering organ transplant surgeon, professor and longtime chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania, mentor, author, board member, lifelong tennis star, and volunteer, died Thursday, Oct. 2, of congestive heart failure at his home. Chair of the Department of Surgery at Penn’s Pearlman School of Medicine from 1983 to 2001, Dr. Barker performed Penn’s first human kidney transplant in 1966. He went on to found the medical school’s Division of Transplant Surgery and establish his own groundbreaking research laboratory. Penn colleagues called him “a titan of American surgery and medicine” and “part of the fabric of Penn Medicine” in an online tribute. Ron DeMatteo, current chair of Penn’s Department of Surgery, said: “He had a distinguished career and an extraordinary life. He has indelibly shaped our department and Penn Medicine.” On Feb. 10, 1966, Dr. Barker implanted a living-donor kidney into the recipient, Howard Mehl, and then celebrated with Mehl at his family milestones for 48 years until Mehl died in 2014. “I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for this man,” Mehl told The Inquirer in 1993 when he reconnected with Dr. Barker at a benefit dinner for the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Barker said then: “He was an ideal patient, young and strong and spirited.” For years, Dr. Barker was the only experienced transplant specialist in Philadelphia. By 2001, Penn’s transplant service had grown to nearly 400 patients, and Dr. Barker’s lab had reported significant advances in diabetes treatment, organ rejection, and other transplant science. Penn opened the Clyde F. Barker Transplant House in 2011 as a home away from home for families of patients, and Dr. Barker told The Inquirer then: “Transplant doctors are really just doing their jobs. They’re important, but they’re just jobs. The patients and their families are the true heroes. … For the families of transplant patients, there is still a need for courage.” The Benjamin and Mary Siddons Measey Foundation also established the Clyde F. Barker-William Maul Measey Professorship of Surgery at Penn. Dr. Barker graduated from what is now the Weill Medical College at Cornell University in New York, took an internship at Penn in 1958, and served as a surgical resident until 1964. He became Penn’s head of transplantation in 1966, a professor of surgery in 1973, and chief of vascular surgery in 1981. He wrote and cowrote hundreds of papers, chapters, and books, served on editorial boards, and was editor of the Penn Surgery Newsletter. He and his daughter, Elizabeth, wrote Surgeons and Something More, the History of Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania, and it was published in 2024. He was president of the American Philosophical Society and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, and a member of the American Surgical Association and other groups. Among his many honors, he earned a lifetime achievement award from the Society for University Surgeons and a scientific achievement medallion from the American Surgical Association. He cofounded what is now the Gift of Life Donor Program in 1974, lectured extensively on transplant surgery and other medical issues, and was elected to the Institute of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Colleagues at the American Philosophical Society noted his “charm, kindness, and delightful, quiet wit” in a tribute. One colleague said: “Charisma is an overused word, but Clyde had it. His strength of character shone through in everything he said and did.” On the tennis court, Dr. Barker was a lifetime top-ranked player. He was a team captain at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire and Cornell, and he played in the main draw twice at what is now the U.S. Open championships. He won singles and doubles grass court titles at Germantown and Merion Cricket Clubs, competed in national singles and doubles tournaments into his 80s, and lost in the national doubles finals five times. “He was confident, seasoned, and always calm inside the operating room and out,” his family said in a tribute. Clyde Frederick Barker was born Aug. 16, 1932, in Salt Lake City. The youngest of four brothers, his father died when he was young, and his brothers pooled their resources and sent him to Phillips Exeter, Cornell, and Cornell’s medical college. He married his college sweetheart, Dorothy Bieler, in 1956, and they had sons Fred, John, and Bill, and a daughter, Elizabeth. He and his wife enjoyed summer vacations in the New York Adirondacks, were active in all kinds of Penn medicine projects, and hosted Christmas parties and summer picnics for family, friends, and colleagues at Penn. His wife died in 2019. He and his family fortuitously attended the U.S. Olympic ice hockey team’s “miracle on ice” victory over Russia in the 1980 Games in Lake Placid, N.Y. He doted on his family and loved his Labrador dogs. “He was quiet,” his daughter said, “with a commanding presence.” In addition to his children, Dr. Barker is survived by six grandchildren and other relatives. His three brothers died earlier. » READ MORE: Penn to open Philly's first transplant house for patients, family A memorial services are to be held later.
