Norman Johanson, longtime surgeon, former chief of orthopedics at Hahnemann, and professor at Temple, has died at 72
He paid special attention to patients and students who were disadvantaged in some way. "His greatest strength was his integrity, honesty, loyalty, and emphasis on patient care," a colleague said.
Norman Johanson, 72, formerly of Wynnewood, longtime surgeon, retired chief of orthopedics at Hahnemann University Hospital, former professor of orthopedic surgery at Temple University, and church leader, died Sunday, July 3, of complications from diabetes at his home on Tilghman Island, Md.
Dr. Johanson became chairman of orthopedics at Hahnemann in 2000 and, over the next two decades, performed thousands of surgeries, served as a mentor to hundreds of residents and medical students, and developed a reputation among administrators and others as a technically gifted surgeon and compassionate counselor.
“When we are faced with a tough case or patient, we all ask ourselves: ‘What would Norm do?’” a former colleague said. “It is the highest compliment you could give a doctor.” A fellow physician at Hahnemann said: “He treated us like his family.”
Before his 19-year tenure at Hahnemann, Dr. Johanson was a professor of orthopedic surgery and program director for a decade at Temple’s School of Medicine, now the Lewis Katz School of Medicine. He started his practice at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York and was affiliated over the years with several hospitals and universities in Philadelphia and New York.
Dedicated throughout his career to supporting those most in need, Dr. Johanson turned down more lucrative jobs to remain at Hahnemann and be available to his disadvantaged patients. He helped one woman organize a fund-raiser to pay for her surgery, and his son, Erik, said: “He saw his career as a mission.”
A former colleague at Hahnemann called Dr. Johanson “a true champion of the needy and disenfranchised.”
After Hahnemann closed in 2019, Dr. Johanson kept busy at medical events around the country and for a few days a month at Shore Medical Center in Somers Point. He also was active with the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons, Hip Society, and Philadelphia Orthopaedic Society.
He published dozens of medical papers and was so adept at hip and knee reconstructions, colleagues said, that salesmen for robotic surgical systems didn’t even bother to knock on his door. He won several awards, including the 1978 T. Campbell Thompson Prize in orthopedic surgery from the Cornell University Medical College, now Weill Medical College; the 2010 Sir John Charnley Award for “improving the world” from the Arthritis Foundation in Philadelphia, and the 2013 Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Hospital for Special Surgery.
But, his family said in a tribute: “He was never defined by professional achievements. … He considered his relationship with God to be his most significant lifelong pursuit.” To that end, Dr. Johanson served as chairman of the board at Trinity Baptist Church in Manhattan and later as an elder and adult Sunday school teacher at Narberth Presbyterian Church.
His pastor in Narberth called him “the conscience of our leadership as a church,” and a colleague said: “He became my moral compass.”
Born June 16, 1950, in Greenwich, Conn., near Long Island Sound, Dr. Johanson was an adventurous boy, and family lore has it that the broken bones he suffered and had repaired in the hospital were the seeds for his later interest in orthopedics. He was a track and field star at Greenwich High School and set a school record with a pole vault of 12 feet, 3 inches at the 1968 Connecticut state championships.
He went on to play football and study biology and art history, and graduated from Trinity College in Connecticut in 1972. He earned his medical degree at Cornell in 1978.
He began dating nurse Brenda Crispell in 1974 while both were working at Columbia University. They married in 1975, and had son Erik, and daughters Kendra, Grace, and Elise. They set up house in Nyack, N.Y., and later lived in Ardmore, Rosemont, Wynnewood, and Narberth.
A fearless sailor as a boy in Connecticut, Dr. Johanson returned to the water for good when he and his wife bought a house on Tilghman Island in the Chesapeake Bay. He took his family boating, enjoyed wondrous sunsets, and spent time on the docks contemplating life and chatting with his grandchildren.
He liked to watch comedies, had an endearing sense of humor, created goofy awards for his colleagues at Hahnemann, followed the Flyers, and listened to Jackson Browne, James Taylor, and Gordon Lightfoot. He was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes about seven years ago.
“Even with all his professional success, he found time to be present in our lives,” his son said. “Whatever we needed, he found a way to do it.” Dr. Johanson was, his family said, “a man who loved life, in all of its artistic beauty, to the very end.”
In addition to his wife and children, Dr. Johanson is survived by five grandchildren, a brother, a sister, and other relatives.
A celebration of his life was held July 30.