Sept. 16, 2009

Dr. Stephen Ayres, former School of Medicine dean, dies

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Dr. Stephen M. Ayres, former dean of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, died Saturday. He was 79.

Ayres served as dean at VCU from 1985 to 1995. Prior to joining VCU, he served as chairman of internal medicine at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine for 10 years. During his tenure at Saint Louis, he was medical director of Saint Louis University Hospital and chaired the school's curriculum committee.

At VCU, Ayres oversaw a massive curriculum reform and led an internal restructuring. In 1991, Ayres was appointed to the Environmental Protection Agency’s U.S. Science Advisory Board. He spent the early part of the decade working on global health issues with then-President Eugene P. Trani, with whom he traveled to Russia. Ayres stepped down as dean in 1995 to accept a position with VCU's International Health Program, working with refugees and the Christian Children's Fund.

In an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Dr. Sheldon Retchin, vice president for health sciences at VCU and CEO of VCU Health System, said that “as one of the premier [intensive-care specialists] in the country, Steve Ayres brought enormous skills and experience to VCU.

“Under his leadership as dean of the School of Medicine, the MCV Campus developed a regional reputation for innovations in intensive care and became a national leader in taking care of the most critically ill patients,” Retchin told the paper. “Almost 15 years after he retired as dean, we opened the first critical-care hospital in the commonwealth, and one of the most advanced critical-care facilities in the nation. I think this is a lasting testimonial to the influence of Dean Ayres on the Medical Center. He will be sorely missed."

Ayres earned his bachelor’s degree from Gettysburg College in 1951 and his medical degree from Cornell University in 1957.

He was preceded in death by his son, Stephen McClintock Ayres Jr. He is survived by his wife, Dolores Kobrick Ayres; two daughters, Elizabeth Ayres-Kerr of St. Louis and Margaret Frazer of Manteo, N.C.; a brother, David Ayres of Raleigh, N.C.; five grandchildren and a great-grandson.

A news obituary can be found on the Richmond Times-Dispatch Web site at http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/lifestyles/announcements/obituaries/article/SAOB16_20090915-202202/293071/.