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OBITUARIES
Steven G. Economou:
1922 - 2007
Surgeon,
writer, doodler
By Trevor Jensen
Tribune staff reporter
Published April 28, 2007
Steven G. Economou was adept with
both scalpel and pen, chairing the
surgery department at what is now
Rush University Medical Center and
writing dozens of medical articles
and doodling abstract figures that
illustrated his self-published
books.
Dr. Economou, 84,
died Saturday, April 7, at Rush
North Shore Medical Center in Skokie
of complications from illnesses
including Parkinson's disease, said
his wife, Kathryn, who goes by the
name "Kitty."
A longtime Wilmette
resident, Dr. Economou had suffered
from hepatitis C, which he
probably contracted in the operating
room, and underwent a liver
transplant about 12 years ago, said
Dr. Alexander Doolas, a friend and
colleague.
Dr. Economou started
as a surgeon at Presbyterian-St.
Luke's Hospital in 1956, when
Presbyterian and St. Luke's
Hospitals merged. It later became
Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical
Center, and he stayed there for his
entire career. From 1983 to 1993, he
was chairman of Rush's general
surgery department, a spokeswoman
said.
Left-handed, he
worked methodically but quickly in
the operating room, using his own
form of non-verbal communication
with assistants. He snapped his
rubber glove impatiently when he
needed an instrument in his hand and
squeezed the wrist of a nurse or
fellow surgeon if he wanted them to
stop what they were doing, Doolas
said.
Patients were given
his home telephone number, and he
took their calls for at least two
hours every night.
"Sometimes it was
non-stop," his wife said.
While chairman of
Rush's general surgery department,
Dr. Economou and his team of
surgeons produced the Rush
University Review of Surgery, which
Doolas said is used by surgical
residents nationwide. He was active
in numerous medical boards and
societies.
The trappings of a
successful medical career did not
interest Dr. Economou. He drove
nondescript domestic sedans and
dressed well but plainly. He almost
always left parties early.
In addition to
drawing abstract doodles whenever
his hands were free, he painted and
wrote a number of books involving
puzzles and stories that he gave
away as Christmas gifts.
"He was never
frivolous," Doolas said. "Everything
he did, he manufactured something."
Dr. Economou's
parents were Greek immigrants who
settled on Chicago's Near West Side,
and his father was in the vegetable
produce business, his wife said.
He attended the
University of Chicago and Hahnemann
Medical College in Philadelphia
before completing a surgical
residency at Presbyterian Hospital.
He retired in 1993.
Fundraising efforts
by friends, colleagues and former
patients led to the establishment of
the Stephen G. Economou chair of
surgery at Rush, a position now held
by Doolas.
His late brother,
Peter, was also a doctor at Rush,
and two of his children followed him
into medicine.
In addition to his
wife, Dr. Economou is survived by a
son, Dr. James; two daughters, Dr.
Tasia and Elena Saclarides; and 12
grandchildren.
Services have been
held.
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ttjensen@tribune.com
Copyright © 2007,
Chicago Tribune
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