John C. Schimmel, born January 8, 1947, died peacefully from complications of a rare illness on Friday, March 1, 2013. Survived in sadness by his wife of 40 years, Connie, daughter Ruth, sons Jay and Rob and Rob's wife, Lauryn; his granddaughter, Caroline; his younger brother, George; George's wife, Ann, and their children Drew, Julia and Elizabeth; his brother-in-law Rob See, Jr. and Rob's son, Robert.
John grew up in Rolling Fork, Miss., the son of Edith and Brevik Schimmel. He graduated from Davidson College. and received his medical degree from Vanderbilt Medical School. He completed his surgery and general surgery residencies at Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto, Calif. He then completed his plastic surgery residency at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and a microsurgery fellowship at R. K. Davies Hospital in San Francisco. John was a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy and served as a Flight Surgeon for the F-14 fighter Atlantic Fleet Training Command and ranked first in his Flight Surgeon Class.
During his career, John served as Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and as Chief of Plastic Surgery at St. Dominic Hospital, Mississippi Baptist Medical Center, and the G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery Veterans Affairs Medical Center. John was especially proud of the time he spent teaching residents and working with veterans and his role as founder of the Medical Scholars Program at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
His unique combination of passion and compassion led him to read widely and expound with great humor and insight, and, usually at some length, about music, art, literature, and philosophy. His love of storytelling never hindered his heartfelt responsibilities as a good listener and devout friend. Those whom he taught and cared for, especially his family, will miss him while they find solace in memories of his laugh, his love of story, his love of life, his devotion to reason, honesty and fair play.