Longtime Northwest Community surgeon, former medical staff president remembered

A longtime orthopedic surgeon, who served on staff at Northwest Community Hospital for more than 25 years, and led the staff during one of the Arlington Heights hospital's pivotal years, has died.

Dr. Robert Walsh was on staff from 1971 to 1997, including serving as president of the medical staff in 1991. He died Aug. 23. He was 86.

Walsh brought a wealth of experience to the hospital staff. Before practicing in the Northwest suburbs, he was a major in the Third Army Medical Corp during the Vietnam conflict.

He earned his medical degree from Loyola University's Stritch School of Medicine before doing his residency at the University of Chicago and a fellowship in hand surgery at the University of Iowa.

"He was an orthopedic-trained hand surgeon, who was one of the senior doctors when I joined," said Dr. Michael Vender, who opened his own hand surgical practice in 1988 in Arlington Heights. "He was an important person in orthopedics and in hand surgery in the Northwest suburbs."

When Walsh joined the medical staff in 1971, Northwest Community was literally bursting at the seams. Patient beds were in high demand and its leaders undertook their most ambitious building campaign to date, adding two new wings to the facility.

One of those wings, the nine-story North Wing, added an entire floor for surgery patients, another for orthopedic surgery and another for medicine.

Fast forward 20 years, and Walsh was a well-respected surgeon among the 500-member medical staff. They elected him president of the medical staff in 1991 and it was a year filled with major accomplishments.

For starters, doctors performed the first open heart surgery at Northwest Community, launching its cardiac surgery program. Hospital officials also expanded their reach, opening a treatment center in Lake Zurich.

That same year, Northwest Community became the first hospital in the area to form a partnership with Children's Memorial Hospital (now Lurie Children's Hospital), bringing its specialists on-site.

One of those medical staff members who helped elect Walsh as president, was Dr. Alan Loren. He was a general surgeon at the time and in more recent years served as chief of surgery. He also served as president of the medical staff for a year in the late 1990s and now serves as executive vice president and chief medical officer at Northwest Community.

"Dr. Walsh devoted his life to the care of others," Loren said. "He was a valued leader and member of the medical staff at Northwest Community Hospital. He will be missed."

Walsh remained an honorary member of Northwest Community's medical staff since he retired in 1997.

Walsh, who resided in Huntley for the past eight years, is survived by his wife Doris, as well as his children Kevin (Annie), Brian (Michelle), Martin (Michelle), Melissa (Mick), and Michael (Christopher), and seven grandchildren.