Alan Reid Salkind MD, 65, of Kansas City, Missouri, passed away on September 3, 2019, in the arms of his wife at St. Luke’s Hospice House, after a short battle with Parkinson’s Disease and Lewy Body Dementia. He was preceded in death by his mother, Jean Beverly Salkind, and father, Laurence Salkind. He is survived by his devoted wife, Millie; his three daughters, Emily (Norman), Katie, and Stephanie, and his son, Robert; his brother Randy; and his sister Sue Feldman (Stuart).

Alan was a devoted grandfather to his two grandchildren, Amanda (14) and Alex (4). Alan typified “stick-to-itiveness” and once he decided to do something he was relentless until the task was finished with the level of excellence that he expected – he expected this level of excellence from himself and others around him. Once Alan decided he wanted to be a physician, he enrolled at California State University, Northridge with a plan to tackle infectious diseases, primarily AIDS. After finishing medical school at East Tennessee State University College of Medicine, Alan completed a residency at Albany Medical Center in Albany, NY. He stayed in NY to complete an Infectious Diseases Fellowship and research training in Immunology at University of Rochester’s Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, NY. Alan was Board Certified in Infectious Diseases by the American Board of Internal Medicine.

Before settling at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, Alan conducted AIDS research at the University of Mississippi and was the Medical Director of Infectious Diseases for Heartland Health System in St. Joseph, MO.  Alan found his home at UMKC where he earned numerous teaching awards voted by students and faculty, including the prestigious Elmer F. Pierson Good Teaching Award. Alan served on numerous committees and had various roles at UMKC, but the one that brought him the most pleasure was his role as the Assistant Dean for the Selection Council for student admissions. Alan took his role with students very seriously and expected excellence in all that they did. As a skilled diagnostician, he would lead his students through thinking exercises during rounds to help them think more critically about infectious diseases. Alan’s research has been published in many highly regarded scientific journals, including JAMA. He retired from UMKC as Professor Emeritus in 2017. Medicine was Alan’s life. It was what he set out to do and he was excellent at a field that he made his life’s mission.

The Salkind family would like to thank the doctors, nurses, staff, and volunteers at St. Luke’s Hospice House for making his and our last days the most comfortable they could have been. In lieu of flowers, the family requests all donations be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation in tribute of Dr. Alan Salkind.