Dr. John Andrews was the rare kind of pediatrician who could turn a shot into a laugh.
For 40 years, the popular physician treated thousands of children, including the sons and daughters of politicians and celebrities, from his Gold Coast office and in area hospitals. It was his ability to relate to his young patients that caused parents from all walks of life to call on him, said his wife, Mary Lou.
Dr. Andrews, 72, died Monday, Aug. 27, in Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center after a long illness.
“People just loved the man,” his wife said. “John just never really grew old. He was always young at heart.”
He was born in St. Anne’s by the Sea, England, and spent most of his youth in Ireland, where he attended medical school at University College Dublin.
In the 1940s, he came to the United States to start his practice. A After completing his pediatric residency at Children’s Memorial Hospital, Dr. Andrews joined the Army and was stationed in Italy as a medical officer.
He always wanted to work with children. He set up his practice in Chicago in 1958 and continued doctoring until 1997.
“He was a very caring and compassionate individual who related well to children,” said his wife. His disheveled, professorial style and old-world charm endeared him to patients and parents alike.
But it was his dedication to his work that made him so popular. If a child he treated fell seriously ill, he was known to fly home from faraway vacations to be at the hospital bedside. Inability to pay his fee was never an obstacle to care.
“He didn’t care if you had $1 million or $100, he was the kind of guy who would take care of any patient,” his wife said.
And he truly stretched the meaning of “any patient.”
When Dr. Lester Fisher of the Lincoln Park Zoo mentioned he needed a hand with the monkeys, Dr. Andrews took the job. Primates at the zoo occasionally delivered prematurely, and the newborns would be sick “much like a premature baby,” Mary Lou Andrews said.
“John would put on his mask and gown and treat them just like he was treating a child.”
Besides his wife, Dr. Andrews is survived by daughters, Jennifer Storm and Megan Koerner and four grandchildren.
Visitation will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday in Holy Name Cathedral, State and Superior Streets. A mass will follow at 10 a.m.
