Farewell to the Good Doctor

[Tojo]

Eskimos mourn the passing of Dr. Cherry (1920 – 2007)



(Edmonton) The Edmonton Eskimo Football Club lost a dear friend and colleague with the death Monday of Dr. Dick Cherry, the team’s long time physician.



Cherry joined the Esks in 1969 and for five decades provided excellent care for Eskimo players, coaches and their families. A close friend of Dr. Cherry, former Eskimo Head Coach and President Hugh Campbell says, “Dick had a warm sense of humour, a gentle bedside manner and an uncanny ability to diagnose injuries. He loved the game and the players who played it.”



Dr. Cherry won eight Grey Cups rings with the Eskimos and is widely credited with helping the team achieve its on-field success.



Former Eskimo great Warren Moon said, “During my years in Edmonton, Dr. Cherry was one of my favorite people. He was a tremendous physician and an even better person.”



Funeral services for Dr. Dick Cherry are at 1:30pm Friday, June 8 at St. Matthews Roman Catholic Parish in Edmonton.

[Deathsdoorstep]

Re: Farewell to the Good Doctor

That's terrible.

God's speed.

[Opus]

Re: Farewell to the Good Doctor

RIP

[Diesel]

Re: Farewell to the Good Doctor

Monday, June 18, 2007 - 10:00AM

By Don Retson,
Edmonton Journal

EDMONTON - Dr. Dick Cherry, the Edmonton Eskimos' team physician for more than three decades, died peacefully on June 5. He was 87.

While many CFL players and team officials never get to savour a championship win, Dr. Cherry collected eight Grey Cup rings during his 33 years with the Eskimos.

After he got home from the 2003 Grey Cup game in Regina, Edmonton Eskimos team president Hugh Campbell headed over to the Dickensfield home of Dr. Cherry.

Campbell wanted to make sure that Dr. Cherry, team physician from 1969 to 2002, got a chance to celebrate the latest Grey Cup win. Campbell paid a similar visit to the Cherry household in 2005, the last year the Eskimos got to hoist the Cup.

"Hughie brought the cup to the house so (Dick) could have his picture taken with it," recalled Betty Cherry, adding that her husband's health wasn't good at the time.

"(Mr. Campbell) was a close personal friend, but it was a very thoughtful thing to do among all the things that are going on at that time of year."

Even while he was in his 80s, Dr. Cherry would be on the sidelines at every Eskimos game and he would go into the dressing room to take care of the players.

"His love in life was medicine and this was another kind of medicine," said Mrs. Cherry.

"It was something that he really enjoyed and he was very loved by all the players. They just thought the world of him."

Born and raised in Montreal, Dr. Cherry headed west in 1950 to serve a two-year internship at the University of Alberta Hospital. On his first day on the job, he met his future bride, Betty Roddick.

Renowned for his kindness, compassion and sense of humour, Dr. Cherry's lifetime of service as a physician included stints in Wilkie, Sask., Devon, and then Edmonton, where he taught family medicine at the U of A family clinic for 19 years.

Dr. Cherry was also one of the founding doctors at the Royal Alexandra Hospital family medicine centre.

Dr. Michel Donoff, who met Dr. Cherry when he was a student and resident at the Royal Alex in the 1970s, said his mentor had the common touch and his patients loved him.

"Whether they were little kids or grandmas, he just knew how to talk to people," said Donoff, adding that Dr. Cherry was the one who inspired him to see the value, depth and challenge of family medicine.

Even in retirement, Dr. Cherry continued to read the latest medical journals.

"This was part of who he was; he knew his patients so well, but he knew his medicine just as well," said Donoff. "One definition of scholarship is organized curiosity. He was innately curious about what made a difference in terms of medicine. This was his hobby. His work was his passion."

After his retirement from family practice, Dr. Cherry served for many years with Capital Care in the areas of extended care and regional services.

A smoker much of his life -- he got hooked while serving with the armed forces in 1940-45 when cigarettes were given out freely to Canadian soldiers -- Dr. Cherry nevertheless would get upset if he saw young people lighting up. He eventually quit cold turkey.

Daughter Shannon Cherry recalled that once when her dad was suffering a serious bout of pneumonia in hospital earlier this decade, such was his love of the Eskimos that he'd be talking about the team's upcoming training camp.

"They say doctors go golfing on their time off. Well, dad would go to (football) practice; and he'd use holiday days to go on road trips. That was his leisure time."

Besides his wife Betty and daughter Shannon, Dr. Cherry is survived by children Maureen McRory, Pat, Michael, John and Roch.