Dr. Robert E. Tooms, MD

Bob was a mentor and visionary in his beloved profession of Orthopedics. He served on the staff of Campbell Clinic, where he became Chief of Staff, as well as a professor of Orthopedics at the UT Center for the Health Sciences and President of the medical staff at The Baptist Memorial Hospital.

Reared in Bells, Tennessee, a son of the town pharmacist, Bob knew early on that a medical career was in his future. Graduating from the UT College of Medicine in 1956, Bob served in the USAF for two years. After military service, he entered residency in orthopedic surgery at the Campbell Clinic, graduating in 1964. After completing a fellowship in rehabilitative orthopedics at Rancho Los Amigos Rehabilitation Hospital, he joined the staff of the Campbell Clinic. He played several roles across his career. He was a physician, surgeon, researcher, professor and mentor and is remembered in all of those roles for putting the mission of patient care above personal considerations.

His commitment to patients in the Child Amputee and Spinal Cord Injury units became legendary in his own lifetime. Bob’s contributions in Campbell’s Operative Orthopedics on the complexities of amputation surgery guided surgeons around the globe for years.

Bob served on the Advisory Board of the Salvation Army and nurtured the Child Amputee Clinic as well as the Spinal Cord Injury Center at the Baptist Memorial Rehabilitation Unit, where he led a team of caregivers and researchers who contributed greatly to these patients.

In retirement as before, Bob continued to serve others. He taught and mentored medical students, orthopedic residents, and nurses as well as tutoring inner city children. He loved spending time with his family, traveling, art, reading, classical music, and spirited discussion. He greatly enjoyed his friends in the ROSES (the Retired Old Surgeons Eating-out Society) and his book club. Bob was a member of Second Presbyterian Church.

Bob is survived by his wife of 61 years, Gerry. He also leaves behind his children, Robert Cole Tooms and his fiancé Sandra Kennedy, Jeffrey Tooms, Kristy Tooms Ziegler and her husband Jason and grandson Ben.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers that memorials be sent to the Albanian Health Fund (http://albanianhealthfund.org) or the Church Health Center (http://churchhealthcenter.org).