"Here's the deal," said Dr. John Weiss of Fayetteville, to the three or four dozen doctors, family and friends assembled in the banquet hall at the Little Rock Country Club to toast Dr. Gil Campbell.
When a surgeon says, "Here's the deal," folks get attentive. Even other surgeons.
"Here's the deal," he repeated, "and here's the man. And here's everybody in the room who loves him."
Hear, hear! went the party.
Campbell served 18 years as chairman of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences' surgery department, and "chief" is how many at the gathering greeted him. Campbell was chief of thoracic surgery at the University of Oklahoma Medical Center before he came to Little Rock, and a U.S. Army veteran awarded a Purple Heart, two Silver Stars and two Bronze Stars.
"He was the inspiration for everyone who went through the residency," Weiss said. "Look around the room. The best surgeons there ever were in the state are right here in this room."
Among his family in attendance were wife Joan, daughter Muffin Smith and her son Miles, 16, son John Campbell of Charlottesville, Va., and his sons Patrick, Andrew and Henry.
Weiss thanked Terri Watkins, who helped organize the fete.
High Profile on 04/19/2015