DR. DONALD G. FOX / 1945-2001

Pediatrician devoted life
to tending his patients

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By Treena Shapiro
tshapiro@starbulletin.com

Dr. Donald Gilman Fox dedicated his life to taking care of the people who needed his help the most, said his brother, state Rep. Galen Fox.

Graduating near the top of his class at Johns Hopkins University, it would have been normal for Dr. Fox to go on to become a research doctor, but he chose to become a pediatrician instead, Rep. Fox said.

He spent his 25-year career at the Kaiser Permanente Punawai Clinic in Waipahu, despite offers to move elsewhere, eventually becoming the clinic's chief.

"He really just sort of had that focus on taking care of people who needed help the most," Rep. Fox said. "He'd never wanted to go anywhere else. He was very happy with those families."

Dr. Fox, 56, died Nov. 25 in Baltimore when the limousine taking him to the airport crashed.

Punawai Clinic manager Rodney Chinen said part of Fox's legacy was the generations of families he treated -- many of whose photographs hung on his wall. "He's had three generations of families that he's served -- the mom would have kids and the kids would have kids."

He was very close to his staff and had treated many of them, as well as their children, Chinen said.

Even after he was made an administrator, he continued to see patients, starting his mornings early to check on his patients admitted to the hospital before coming into the clinic, Chinen said. "That's something that I think that he would not ever want to give up. He loved taking care of kids."

Born in Piihonua near Hilo in 1945, Dr. Fox grew up in Honolulu, where he attended the University Laboratory School from 1950 to 1963. He graduated from Pomona College in 1967 and Johns Hopkins University in 1971. He did his residencies at Children's Hospitals in Dallas and Columbus, Ohio.

He also served in the Air Force from 1973 to 1975 and worked as a doctor in Haiti, Okinawa and Wake Island before returning to Hawaii in 1976 with his wife, Dr. Linda Chapanis Fox.

Linda Fox is chief of the state Department of Health's Adult Mental Health Division.

Fox's passion for hiking and other outdoor activities continued until his death.

Fox is also survived by his sons Bradley, 23, and David, 20.

Services will be held at 5 p.m. Dec. 17 at the Church of the Crossroads, followed by an informal reception in Weaver Hall. Donations may be sent to Church of the Crossroads or to the Nature Conservancy of Hawaii.