Funeral Details

Kenneth H Simpson was born on November 24, 1930, in Chicago, IL, to Leon and Shirley Simpson (nee London). Both of his parents came to the U.S. between World Wars I and II, from shtetls in Eastern Europe.

He grew up on the west side of Chicago, and developed lifelong friendships with a group known as “The Boys,” most of whom would soon become, at the urging of their Jewish immigrant parents, doctors and lawyers.

“Kenny” met Diane, a fresh-faced girl from Joliet, at the wedding of Philly – another of the boys. Ken was an usher, and as he walked up the aisle, Diane turned to her friend June and said “Dibs.” Fate was not sealed until the final song of the evening, when Ken asked Diane to dance.

Ken received his medical doctorate from University of Illinois at Chicago, which was then located on Navy Pier. He and Diane started a family during his Urology residency and internship at Cook County Hospital and surrounding area hospitals. Following a two-year stint as an Air Force doctor in Biloxi, Mississippi during the Korean War, they raised their three kids – Julie, David and Leah – in the suburbs of Chicago.

Ken worked as a urological surgeon for twenty years at Illinois Masonic and St. Joseph hospitals in Chicago. He became increasingly frustrated by institutional aspects of medical practice, such as the intrusion of insurance requirements into his ability to treat patients in the manner he saw fit. Being a physician also left him scant time to follow his interest in studying philosophy and literature – pursuits that resonated with his inquisitive nature.

All of which led Ken, at the age of 50, to make a career move that most of his colleagues deemed either insane or inspired: he took an indefinite hiatus from medicine and enrolled at the University of Chicago. After two years studying ancient Greek language and philosophy, gradually veering towards ethics, Ken emerged with a Masters in General Humanities, and a determination to wed these investigations to the practice of medicine.

He spent his next 20 years at several Chicago hospitals, pioneering applied medical ethics. As one of the few medical ethicists in the 1980’s and 90’s who was also an active MD, his role in creating in-hospital ethics departments was pivotal. Ken sometimes described his work as that of an interpreter: he would convene and translate, so that various parties – medical staff, patient, patient’s family, social worker, lawyer and hospital administration – could better understand one another’s perspectives, and make informed decisions in difficult, end-of-life situations.

Ken had a Bohemian side – he loved the Grateful Dead, Tom Wolfe’s depiction of Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters, and communal-style, one-pot-on-the-stove meals. This freewheeling aspect was balanced out by a highly rational nature and a deep respect for ancestry and tradition.

Ken was an avid runner starting in the 1970s. His love of time outdoors with his family led to twice-yearly skiing and hiking trips in the Colorado mountains.

After retiring from medicine at the age of 70, Ken dedicated himself full-time to supporting Diane in her career as a visual artist. Support in this case was of every conceivable type – logistic, emotional, administrative and domestic – allowing her to spend her days in her studio, only interrupted to enjoy the lunch he would fix for them.

This nourishing of Diane and her creativity was the continuation of a vein that ran throughout their marriage. In the early days, their young kids shared one bedroom in a series of apartments while the parents slept on a hide-a-bed in the living room, because Ken wanted Diane to have the remaining bedroom as a painting studio.

Favorite activities in Ken’s final two decades included reading the NY Times cover to cover every morning, watching independent and foreign films several nights a week with Diane, consuming novels from the Wilmette Library – which in many cases involved two copies so that both of them could read the same book simultaneously; and watching the PBS News Hour every night while sitting down to the meals that he shopped for and she cooked.

But Ken’s true raison d’être was contributing in every way possible to the fulfilment of each member of the extended family. His grandchildren gave him the greatest joy of all. Each of them, as infants and toddlers, would spend a day each week in Wilmette with Poppy and Nani, forging incredibly strong bonds that persist to this day.

Ken is survived by his wife Diane; his children Julie (Torrey), David and Leah (Alan); and Grandchildren Noah (Lauren), Sean, Jasha, Alex, Jesse, Leon, Nico and Jojo.

He will be missed more than words can say.

In lieu of flowers, please feel free to make a donation to the ACLU, www.aclu.org in Ken's honor. Arrangements by Chicago Jewish Funerals- Skokie Chapel-847.229.8822, www.cjfinfo.com.