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October 28, 2010
Marquette General Foundation honors three visionary physician leaders at third annual gala
The Marquette General Foundation honored three physicians who were instrumental in the early development of medicine in the Upper Peninsula at its third annual “Celebrating Our Champions Gala – Founding Fathers in Medicine” on Saturday, October 23 at UpFront and Company.
The honorees were Dr. Charles Wright, Dr. John English and Dr. Dan Mazzuchi. Proceeds from the Gala will support the “Accelerating the Future” Capital Campaign to help purchase a new linear accelerator for the Marquette General Cancer Center.
“We are absolutely elated to honor Drs. Wright, English and Mazzuchi, founding fathers of medicine in the Upper Peninsula,” said Dr. Dan Arnold, medical oncologist and board chair of the Foundation. “Their contributions to the Health System, to their patients and to health care in the Upper Peninsula should be recognized. It brought us a great sense of pride to honor them.”
Dr. Charles Wright started the practice of internal medicine in Marquette in 1956. He joined his Indiana classmate, Urologist Dr. Jack Hettle, in the Saving Bank Building, located in downtown Marquette. When the medical office building opened up on the corner of College Avenue and Hebard Court, he moved there. In 1965, when the building became too small, he, along with Dr. Elston Huffman, Dr. George Wilson, Dr. John English and 14 other physicians, opened the Marquette Medical Center (now the Upper Peninsula Medicine Center) – a unique physician equally-owned cooperative corporation. Dr. Wright served as the Center’s first president from 1965-70. Today, the Medical Center, along with Marquette General Hospital, is the “medical hub” for Marquette and surrounding communities, growing from the original 18 physicians to 137 physicians.
In 1977, after St. Luke’s and St. Mary’s had merged to form Marquette General Hospital, Dr. Wright was chosen as the first physician to serve as a voting member of the MGHS Board of Trustees.
Dr. Wright retired from practice in 1989, but he remained professionally active in a variety of ways. He was chair of the Peter White Library Long Range Planning Committee, which was created to modernize and enlarge the library. He also worked for Indian Health Services at the Jacobetti Home for Veterans and went on several mission trips.
Born in Evansville, Ind., Dr. Wright attended Indiana University, where he earned his bachelor’s and medical degree. He completed a rotating internship at Cincinnati General Hospital and an internal medicine residency at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. Dr. Wright is married to Katherine Carr Wright, who is a registered nurse. They have four children, 13 grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.
Dr. John W. English received his medical degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1955 following a one year rotating internship at Madison General Hospital, in Madison, Wisc. He spent eight years at the United Mine Workers Hospital in Beckley West Virginia caring for coal miners and their dependents. While there, he completed his residency training in internal medicine. He received his board certification in internal medicine in 1962.
In 1964, he joined Dr.’s K Charles Wright, Elston Huffman and George Wilson in their Marquette Internal Medicine practice. He participated in the creation of the Upper Peninsula Medical Center in Marquette, which opened in January 1966 with a total of 18 physicians covering eight different specialties. He served on the active staff of St. Luke’s Hospital (now Marquette General Hospital) from 1964-2003, during which period he acted as first director of the St. Luke’s Coronary Care Unit (1968-1972). He was actively involved in the recruitment of a cardiologist and the establishment of a state of the art medical and surgical cardiovascular program at St. Luke’s Hospital, which led to the merger of St. Luke’s and St. Mary’s Hospitals into Marquette General Hospital in 1974.
Additional interests included the establishment of post-graduate medical programs for local physicians (he was director of post graduate medical education 1968-1997), as well as the recruitment of new subspecialty practices into the growing Upper Peninsula Medical Center. Establishment of ties between MGH programs and the reinvigorated NMU premedical curriculum program in the mid 1970’s was one of the earliest seeds of interaction between “town and gown” in the healthcare – education field.
Throughout his 48 years as a practicing physician, direct patient care was always his first love. Retiring from active medical practice to care for his beloved wife, Jeanne, suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, he learned a great deal about the demands and rewards of being a nurse. Jeanne died on May 5, 2010. Enjoying fair health (“good on the outside” according to Dr. English), a fine family, and a wonderful new wife, the former “Miltza Georgevich, the future beckons for Dr. English, and his biography is not over.
Dr. Mazzuchi began his internal medicine career in Marquette in 1973, when he joined Marquette Internal Medicine. In 1975, he was named Chief of Staff for Marquette General Hospital, and in 1976 he was named Executive Director of the Upper Peninsula Medical Center. He remained at Marquette Internal Medicine until 1978, when he became director of residency planning for the Upper Peninsula Health Education Corporation (UPHEC), where he was later named vice president in 1978. As director, he founded the Marquette Family Medicine Residency Program, which is the Upper Peninsula’s only post-graduate medical education program. Affiliated with the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, the program trains physicians in the specialty of family medicine with emphasis on practice in rural areas. Since Dr. Mazzuchi began the program, it has graduated more than 140 physicians, many of whom continue to practice in the Upper Peninsula.
In 1979 he became assistant dean of the UP Campus for the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, where he oversaw all medical students. In 1983 he became associate dean for Clinical Curriculum and Community Programs for the MSU College of Human Medicine. He returned to Marquette in 1987, when he was named chief executive officer for UPHEC, where he remained until his retirement in 2000.
Throughout his career, Dr. Mazzuchi was very involved in community organizations. He was chief of staff at Marquette General, co-chair for the Marquette County United Way Campaign, president of the Marquette Area Chamber of Commerce and a charter member of the Marquette Symphony Orchestra’s board of directors, to name just a few.
Born in Washington, DC, Dr. Mazzuchi completed his residency and internship at D.C. General Hospital, and completed his fellowship in nephrology at George Washington University. He served in the United States Navy at the US Navy Hospital in Jacksonville, Fla. from 1969-71. He currently resides in Marquette with his wife, Connie Mazzuchi, and has seven children.
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