Anthony J. Thomas Jr., MD, is Special Achievement Award Honoree

Dr. Tony and Janie Thomas
Photo credit: Melissa Rock Photography

Anthony J. “Tony” Thomas Jr., MD (Staff’82), nominated for his expertise, kindness and compassion, is being honored with an Alumni Association Special Achievement Award. The award was established to recognize exceptional, enduring achievements and leadership at Cleveland Clinic.

Dr. Thomas passed away on Nov. 5, 2017, at the age of 74. He was Director of the Center for Male Infertility from 1982 to 2012. A world-renowned fertility expert and urologist, he pioneered microsurgical procedures and published influential research, leading to several prestigious awards. He was named one of America’s top doctors, and was a highly regarded role model for those he trained in urology, microsurgery and ethics. In recent years, he served as the Patient Experience Officer for the Glickman Urological & Kidney Institute and as a member of the Department of Bioethics.

Leo Pozuelo, MD, Center Head of Adult Behavioral Health, regards Dr. Thomas as a good friend and mentor. “He had the ability to make everybody in the room, no matter their position, feel valued,” he says.

Calling him “a senior statesman,” he says, “We all have support systems, and he was that for me, as he was for many colleagues. He was the ideal teacher, writer and master clinician. He spoke up for people who didn’t have a voice, and he did it with extreme humility. He knew what it was to be noble in life.”

Paul Ford, PhD, Director of the NeuroEthics Program at Cleveland Clinic, founded the Anthony Thomas Jr., MD Memorial Lecture. The third lecture, “Empathy and Valuing Every Life,” was presented in November.

“Dr. Thomas taught me a great deal about what it means to be a kind and compassionate professional and making things as easy as possible for patients,” he says. “I can’t think of a person better suited for this award.”

Dr. Thomas and Bud Isaacson, MD, worked together in founding Cleveland Clinic’s Professionalism Council.

“He was emblematic of professionalism in all its senses – in meeting the obligations of patients and being altruistic, humane and empathic,” Dr. Isaacson says. “He was a valuable resource. I sought him out because of his great wisdom and equanimity. He treated people fairly and listened carefully. His training in bioethics was very helpful, and he was always a student, wanting to learn. The word ‘humility’ comes to mind.”

Dr. Thomas, who grew up in Cleveland, and his wife, Janie, who is from Akron, were married for over 50 years. They met at a family wedding, through her sister and Dr. Thomas’ brother, who were married to each other.

“We began on a really good note because I already knew the family,” Janie says. “We both came from similar backgrounds, 100 percent Lebanese, and the same background of faith and family.”

Even with his busy schedule, she says, “Tony was a very present father and husband. I never doubted that family was No. 1 to him.”

When he passed away, “we received so many letters complimenting him on how caring and humble he was,” Janie says. “He was dedicated to the things he valued – faith, family, friends, work. He was the source of strength for our kids and a calm problem-solver. He also had a great sense of humor and could belly laugh better than most.”

From left: Daughter Kathy Ristau, daughter-in-law Colleen Thomas, Tony Thomas, daughter Jen Kappler, daughter Chris Thomas. Photo credit: Melissa Rock Photography

Daughter Kathy Ristau agrees. “You felt like you made it if you could make him belly laugh!”

Kathy says her father was “very humble,” and that she and her siblings never realized how much he accomplished professionally, and how loved he was by his colleagues and patients, until he passed away. “We knew he had pride in his work, but we never knew him as a doctor.”

Except for the fact that he delivered her when she was born, she says. “He would tell me, ‘I didn’t drop you then, and I will never let you fall.’”

When Kathy started working in Marketing at Cleveland Clinic in 2012, the same year her father retired, “I was meeting with people and hearing stories,” she says. “That was one of the greatest honors of my life. I was so proud to say that I was Tony Thomas’ daughter. I felt like a little kid walking around the hospital hallways with him.”

Kathy says she speaks not only for herself but also her three siblings, Chris, John and Jen, when she says, “We all had special relationships with Dad. We refer to him as our very own Superman. He worked long days, but I can’t remember a time that I needed my father and he wasn’t there for me. When he retired, he was a superfan of all of his grandkids’ sporting events. He had such a joy of family.”

Kathy and her husband, Robb, had a son in 2019, her family’s 11th grandchild. They named him Owen Anthony, in honor of his “jidoo,” which is Arabic for “grandfather.”

“One of the lights of my dad’s life was being a jidoo,” Kathy says.

In memory of Dr. Thomas’ way of valuing every person with whom he came into contact, the Anthony Thomas Jr., MD Memorial Lecture: Empathy and Valuing Every Life was established.

Make your gift today by visiting: https://give.ccf.org/fundraiser/1863394.