Howard J. Westney ’48

Howard J. Westney ’48, who lived in Niskayuna, New York, died peacefully on October 25, 2012, with his family at his bedside. “Wes” was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on March 26, 1927, and, after losing his father when he was 12, was embraced by Quaker friends. He graduated from a Quaker school in Westtown, Pennsylvania. He enlisted in the Navy, where he served as a corpsman attached to a Marine division. After discharge he took his undergraduate degree at Dartmouth, where he was a member of the Sphinx, and continued to New York Medical College, where he met and married Grace Jorgensen. Together they finished medical school and he followed her back to Schenectady, New York. He started his medical practice in Latham, New York, which grew and became the Latham Medical Group. Building on his experience as a medic in the service, he was responsible regionally and then nationally in developing medical care procedures for patients being transported to hospitals. Initially he took it upon himself to train fire and police departments, and for several years supervised thousands of calls until all the emergency rooms were providing instructions by radio. Wes gave unequivocal support to his wife and her life’s mission to improve healthcare for women. They climbed mountains together and survived hardships. They endured the death of their daughter Diana from multiple sclerosis. He is survived by his wife, Grace; daughter Clarissa and her husband, Christopher; son John and his wife, Susan; and grandsons Weston and Mathew.