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The Cumming School of Medicine is mourning the loss of Dr. Clarence Guenter, MD, Hon. LLD'13, a pulmonary physician who helped shape academic medicine in the early days of Calgary鈥檚 medical school.

He later served in leadership roles that developed health policy and enhanced care delivery internationally. A University of Calgary professor emeritus, Clarence passed away Feb. 7. He was 88.

Clarence was a professor in the Department of Medicine and would lead it from 1972 to 1978, establishing the Respiratory Medicine division and securing Royal College approval of its training program. His work advanced postgraduate Internal Medicine curriculum and research programs while growing clinical operations within a new hospital in Calgary during the bustling 1970s.

Clarence served as president and chief executive officer of Foothills Hospital from 1985 to 1990. After that, he led UCalgary鈥檚 international medical exchange program and was consulting faculty for several medical universities internationally.

Clarence was instrumental in developing several of UCalgary鈥檚 ongoing global health equity, education and research-partnership initiatives. A UCalgary lecture series highlighting the benefit of equitable global partnerships continues in his name.

Clarence would lead the Canadian Thoracic Society beginning in 1980, followed by a term as president of the American Thoracic Society, becoming the first to be president of both. He is remembered for moving presentations about global health, emphasizing the troubling gap between industrialized and developing countries.

Born in Saskatchewan, Clarence earned a medical degree and completed postgraduate training at the University of Manitoba in 1961. He later built the respiratory diseases specialist training program at the University of Oklahoma before arriving in Calgary.

Through his illustrious career, Clarence was honoured with the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal and named a Member of the Order of Canada. To mark the province鈥檚 centennial in 2005, he was named among Alberta鈥檚 100 physicians of the century by the Canadian Medical Association.

Clarence was often ahead of his time. Not long after arriving in Calgary, he put forward a motion to the university鈥檚 Medical Faculty Council to abolish cigarette smoking on the medical school campus. The motion failed, in part because of uncertainty about the harms of smoking.

He met his wife Marie at age 15 and they were married more than 66 years. By request, there will not be a public service.

Read the obituary for Clarence and Marie Guenter