Doctor was pioneer in echocardiography
It was his compassion for his patients and his skill in medicine that earned Dr. Claude Joyner the prestigious Peter J. Safar Pulse of Pittsburgh Award this year.
The award was presented by the Pittsburgh division of the American Heart Association for Dr. Joyner's involvement in the development of echocardiography in the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease.
Dr. Claude R. Joyner Jr., of Edgeworth, a former director of the Division of Cardiology at Allegheny General Hospital on the North Side, died Friday, Nov. 17, 2006, at his home. He was 80.
Dr. George Magovern, chairman of the surgery department at AGH, called the echocardiography approach "the single most important mechanism in cardiology today."
"Although Dr. Joyner was the founder of echocardiography, you would never know it," Magovern said. "He never spoke about his work. It took me months after he arrived at AGH to find out what he had accomplished. And then I had to pull it out of him."
Margaret Rea Joyner recalled her husband's self-effacing humor. "Claude often compared himself to the turnip that fell off of the truck," she said. "He was raised in a rural area of North Carolina, and he never forgot his roots."
Dr. Joyner's father, Claude Sr., was a principal at R.J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem, N.C., who taught English and mathematics. His mother, Lytle Mackie Joyner, was a teacher.
"Claude's father had the reputation of being an autocratic principal, whose expectation of both his son and his students seemed unattainable," said Mrs. Joyner. "But Mr. Joyner (Sr.) was a moral and ethical man who passed these qualities on to his son.
"I was also a student at Reynolds High School," she said. "We knew each other, but after high school, we both went our own ways.
"Eventually, we both ended up in Sewickley. Claude was a widower. We were married in 2004.
"Claude was raised a Baptist and knew every hymn in the hymnal. And even during Sunday services at the Presbyterian Church of Sewickley, Claude rarely had to use the hymn book. He easily picked up the Presbyterian hymns."
In 1949, after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, Dr. Joyner entered the Navy Medical Corps, serving his residency at a hospital in Oakland, Calif.
Dr. Joyner was involved in the treatment of the men and women who were wounded in battle during the Korean War and who were being brought back to the United States.
He later practiced at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, served as chairman of the Department of Medicine, then as director of the Division of Cardiology at AGH.
Dr. Joyner was a "true Southern gentleman," said Connie Cibrone, president and CEO of AGH. "He set the standard for academic excellence at the hospital. He was not only a doctor, but also a teacher. We all sought his wisdom and guidance."
Dr. Joyner is survived by his wife, Margaret Rea Joyner; two children, Glenn Joyner Dias, of Orangeburg, S.C., and Courtney Joyner, of Los Angeles; and three stepchildren, Rives Rea Yost and K. Oliver Rea, both of Sewickley, and Robinson Rea Scarborough, of Malibu, Calif.
A memorial service, to be held at the Presbyterian Church of Sewickley, is being planned. Arrangements are being handled by Copeland's Funeral Home, Sewickley.
