Emil Palik

Emil E. Palik, M.D., age 96, passed away at his Tulsa home on Sunday, May 28, 2006, after a long struggle with heart disease. He moved to Tulsa in January 1946, where he practiced pathology until his retirement three years ago.

Emil Emery Palik was born December 20, 1909, in Iowa City, Iowa, where he graduated from City High School, and received his B.S. in 1934 and his M.D. in 1936 from the State University of Iowa. After his internship at University Hospital in Iowa City, Dr. Palik completed a residency in Pathology at the Charity Hospital of Louisiana in New Orleans, where he remained as Associate Director of Laboratories and served as Assistant Professor of Pathology at the Louisiana State University College of Medicine. In 1946, Dr. Palik was named Pathologist and Director of Laboratories at St. John's Hospital in Tulsa, where he was founder and member of the Board of the St. John's Tumor Clinic. He also served as Visiting Lecturer in pathology at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. He was the last surviving founding Fellow of the College of American Pathologists, and was past President of the Oklahoma State Association of Pathologists. Dr. Palik was also past President of the Tulsa County Cancer Society, the Tulsa Internists Society, the Tulsa Surgical Society, and was a founding member of the Tulsa County Heart Association. He had also been a member of the Visiting Medical Staff of Hillcrest Hospital in Tulsa. More recently, he had been Pathologist and Director of Laboratories at Oklahoma Miami Baptist Hospital, as well as continuing his private practice as Pathologist and Director of Palik-Nelson Laboratories. Dr. Palik had been a Board member of the American Association of Blood Banks, and member of the American Society of Clinical Pathologists, United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, American Association of Blood Banks, Tulsa Pathology Society, American Medical Association, Oklahoma State Medical Association, Oklahoma State Association of Pathologists, and the Tulsa County Medical Society.

Dr. Palik was a long-time member of the Rotary Club and of St. Paul's Methodist Church, but his chief avocations were golf and tennis. He was for many years a member of the Tulsa Tennis Club, and had been a winner of the Oklahoma State Senior Doubles Tennis title. He was also a long-time member of the Oaks Country Club, the Czech and Slovak Society of Tulsa and had been a charter member of Cedar Ridge Country Club.

Dr. Palik was preceded in death by his parents, Frank and Mary Palik; by his first wife, Frances Nelsen; and by his siblings Agatha, Yolanda, Frank, George, and Robert. He is survived by his wife of nearly fifty years, Josephine Jessie Hume; by his children Robert Emil of Huntsville, Alabama; James Nelsen of Paris, France; John William of Iowa City, Iowa; Laura Emily of Portland, Oregon; Donald Lindsay of Tulsa; and David Andrew of Tulsa; and by grandchildren Amanda Kaye, James Emery, Sarah Elizabeth, and Christopher Charles.

The medical community enjoyed his unfailing courtesy and collegiality. His family and friends will remember his constant good nature, even temperament, and singleness of purpose. He was utterly devoid of irony, but not without humor, and would amuse and amaze with recitations of long passages from Keats and Milton that he had committed to memory the better part of a century ago. His naïve tenacity, integrity, dedication to the highest personal standards, and unswerving positive attitude allowed him to rise above all adversity. His energy was large, as was the imprint he left, and he will be missed.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, June 3, 10:00 o'clock at Christ Presbyterian Church, 2706 East 51st St. in Tulsa, with interment in Memorial Park. Ninde Garden Chapel 742-5556. www.ninde.com