Rodney McCarthy (1948-2021)
May 6—Dr. Rodney McCarthy, an ophthalmologist and surgeon with a longtime Toledo area practice, who played hockey from childhood in Montreal and formed a junior hockey club in Toledo, died Monday in University Hospital, Cleveland. He was 72.
He had a heart attack April 5, his wife, Anne McCarthy, said. Until that day, he worked at Vision Associates in Sylvania Township, which he founded.
"He loved the practice of medicine," his wife said.
Penny Staelin, a friend, said this of him: "His patients didn't want him to retire.
"He was the Energizer Bunny," Mrs. Staelin said. "He loved his work, and his patients loved him. He was professional, but he was caring in his practice."
Vision Associates, which includes 10 other eye doctors, recently entered into an agreement with ProMedica to form a vision institute in Toledo, said friend Stephen Staelin, who serves on the ProMedica board of trustees, of which he is a past chairman.
"It was his dream to have that come about. He felt that was the best way to serve his patients, especially underserved patients in the region," Mr. Staelin said. "It was obvious he took a genuine interest in people."
Dr. McCarthy, of Springfield Township and formerly of Ottawa Hills, received bachelor's and medical degrees from McGill University in Montreal.
A fellowship in oculoplastic, orbital, and reconstructive surgery followed at Harvard University.
For 25 years, he was affiliated with Massachusetts Eye and Ear in Boston and traveled there to teach and lecture.
Arriving in Toledo, he was a clinical professor in ophthalmology and eye pathology for a year at the former Medical College of Ohio.
The area became home.
"We came for a year and stayed for 42," his wife said. "We loved the people. That was probably the biggest thing. We loved the Midwest and Toledo and all the friends we have."
Dr. McCarthy played hockey from ages 4 to 50 and was team captain at McGill University.
He started Toledo Cherokee junior hockey and coached its 16- to 20-year-old participants. He told the players to be concerned with family first, then their education.
"'No. 3 is your sport,'" he'd say, his wife recalled. "He definitely had his priorities. They all respected him, and they listened to him. He was never one of these people who said you have to do it at all costs."
Dr. McCarthy told The Blade in 1998, as the team marked its first national championship, that he aimed to give those not quite good enough for top-tier junior hockey a chance to play competitively.
"It started as a five-year plan to make the program successful and self-sustaining," Dr. McCarthy said in 1998. "I'm very happy."
Dr. McCarthy was a member of Inverness Club and the Ottawa Skeet Club.
An instrument-rated pilot, he flew the family regularly to northwest Lower Michigan when they had property there.
"I clearly remember the first time I spent time with Rod, which was probably 30 years ago, I came away thinking this is a modern-day Renaissance man," Mr. Staelin said. "His intellect and his interest in a range of subjects was evident. Anything he took up he became highly proficient in — obviously an expert surgeon; he became an expert pilot; he's a single-digit golfer. He became an excellent marksman."
Dr. McCarthy was born Nov. 5, 1948, in Montreal to Margaret and William McCarthy. He was a 1965 graduate of Loyola High School in Montreal. He and his wife became U.S. citizens in the 1990s.
Surviving are his wife, the former Anne Campbell, whom he married Oct. 10, 1970; son, Brian McCarthy; daughter, Heather Drstvensek; sister, Helen Sheehan, and four grandchildren.
Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Walker Funeral Home, Sylvania Township. Services will begin at noon Friday in Epworth United Methodist Church in Ottawa Hills, of which he was a member.
The family suggests tributes to the American Heart Association or First Tee of Lake Erie, firstteelakeerie.org/giving/donate.