CLASS OF 1967 | 2015 | ISSUE 2

Some good news, and some sad news.

First the good news, about my friend Tom Drew. It turns out that the medical staff at the Rhode Island Hospital, where Tom has worked as a cardiologist since 1977, honored him with the Milton W. Hamolsky Outstanding Physicians Award, the highest honor that the hospital gives. According to the chief medical officer at the hospital, “Dr. Drew is an extraordinary physician who has inspired other physicians through his dedication to excellence, unparalleled medical skills and compassionate care.” Sounds to me as if that chief medical officer got it just right, not only about Tom but about what one would hope for in a physician: dedication, skills, and compassion.

After finishing medical school at Columbia University, Tom did his internship and residency at Beth Israel in Boston, and has lived in or near Providence ever since. He and his wife, Carolyn (formerly the president of the International Institute of Boston, an organization that has provided, since 1924, services for immigrants and refugees), as of this writing (mid-May 2015) have four kids and seven grandchildren (with an eighth due any day).

In addition to his work at Rhode Island Hospital, Tom was also a clinical associate professor of medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
In early 2015 he wrote that he was “officially retiring in March” but wasn’t sure it would take. (“Think it is more likely a six-month sabbatical. We will see.”) He and Carolyn were dividing their time between their home in Westport, Mass., and Sarasota, Fla., “spending some time on a boat, lots of time with grandkids.”

The sad news is that after a year-long bout with multiple myeloma, amyloidosis, and end-stage renal disease, Andy Barada died in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Feb. 8, 2015, a few weeks shy of his 70th birthday. After finishing medical school at UVA, an internship at the University of Wisconsin, a stint as the chief of medicine at Fort Defiance Indian Hospital on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona, and a residency back at UVA, Andy served the Durham (N.C.) community as a rheumatologist for more than 30 years. According to the obituary in a Durham newspaper, he had been the president of the medical staff at Durham Regional Hospital and president of the N.C. Rheumatology Association. He also helped to found Project Access of Durham County, which provides medical care for the uninsured. He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Placide Noell Barada, two children, and four grandchildren.

Andy’s senior year roommate, David Webb ’68, who retired in 2012 after 42 years as a teacher and dean at Choate, told me in an e-mail that he had stayed in touch with Andy through the years, especially during the years Andy’s daughter was a student at Choate. Andy—who played tennis and squash at Wesleyan, and was an avid athlete throughout his life—kept encouraging David to read The Boys in the Boat, which he finally did. “Our final phone call,” he told me, “was about the 1937 Olympic champion crew team, The Boys in the Boat. On several occasions, Andy had urged me to read it, and when I finally did: What a book! I called Andy that last time to thank him for that!”