Lakewood Community Loses Beloved Pediatrician At Age 95

Dr. Robert Jude McEvoy

Some of my earliest memories place me naively waiting in a Lakewood doctor’s office waiting area, playing with cardboard bricks that we begged our parents to get for us. I was blissfully unaware of the next shot (1, 2, 3 this will hurt!) nor really aware of how good our family had it going to Dr. McEvoy for our pediatrician visits. In hindsight the good was obvious, because “Bowtie Bob” would also take calls at his home, stop by your house, ask mom to put a sick kid on the phone so he could listen to them, call in prescriptions and in many ways, help parents to learn how to be parents by teaching them to trust their instincts.

Fast forward to my wife Carrie and I first meeting at summer camp and starting to date. I remember finding that we had a lot of things in common, which seemed to pop up daily. Then one day she told me she’d like me to meet her grandparents, the McEvoys…  “THE Dr. McEvoy?” I asked? (okay I’m paraphrasing and probably making it more dramatic, but Dr. McEvoy was royalty in our house).

Ultimately, I married Dr. McEvoy’s oldest granddaughter, an amazing nurse practitioner in her own right, and came to know Bob and Anita as family.

Unfortunately, our community lost Dr. Robert Jude McEvoy on September 24th at Ennis Court at the age of 95. He leaves behind his wife of 69 years, Anita. He was also a father of four – Robert Jr. (deceased) and daughters Anne, Ellen (deceased) and Laura (Martin); a loving grandfather of nine; and a proud great-grandpa to another 9, three of whom I am blessed to call my own.  Little Everett, just born at the end of August in Denver, didn’t get to meet his great-grandpa in person, but will carry his middle name Jude for life, and no doubt has a guardian looking after him as well!

Dr. Bob was born at home in Brooklyn, NY in 1921, and is also survived by his devoted sister Loretta with whom he shared loving memories of their three older sibling John, Bruce and Rita (Dawson). He obtained his MD in 1946 from St. Louis University where he met Anita. His training brought him back to Brooklyn, as well as Japan, where he was stationed as an officer in the Air Force.

In Lakewood, he would devote nearly 50 years to his private pediatric practice. Even after he retired, I can remember that my mother would call ahead to his old office, to see what days he might be moonlighting. Needless to say, we Litten’s got a few bonus visits after his retirement.

He won numerous awards, including the Cleveland Academy of Medicine Clinician of the Year, Irish American Archives Society Walks of Life Award, Society of St. Luke inductee and founding member of the Irish American Pediatric Society.

Awards aside, he was an incredible man who will be missed dearly. The stories at his funeral from people whose lives he saved, from people with disabilities and their familes whom they’d befriended through Bob and Anita’s daughter Ellen, and even on social media, where a family let us know that they lived in “The McEvoy House” on Lake. A great doctor and an even better person. Thank you, Dr. McEvoy!

John Litten

John Litten serves Ward 3 as its representative on Lakewood City Council. Litten has a background in management, community service, with 7 years leading a camp for children and people with disabilities and nearly five years as executive director of the St. Vincent de Paul Society.

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Volume 12, Issue 21, Posted 4:56 PM, 10.11.2016