Dr. John E. Gustafson

Dr. John E. Gustafson, 99, passed away on August 22, 2023 in Clive, Iowa.

John Emil was born in Akeley, Minnesota, April 6, 1924, the third of eight children of Emil J. and Lilly Gustafson. In 1943, he went into the Army where he spent 21 months in school and 12 months in hospital work. In 1951, he was called back into service for 18 months, six of which were spent in Korea as a medical officer.

John married Betty Chapman, his high school sweetheart, in 1945. They had two children, Nancy and John. They were divorced in 1976. He then married Helen Rockwell, who died in 2011 and in 2013, he married Luetta Rhodes, who died in 2018.

John graduated from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1949. He took an internship and residency in Pediatrics at Iowa Methodist and Blank Children’s Hospitals. In addition to his pediatric practice, he specialized in pediatric cardiology. He set up the heart lab at Methodist and did all the adult and pediatric heart catheterizations from 1954 to1969. He orga-nized the heart surgery team and ran the heart pump for all of the heart surgeries from 1956 to 1969. It was the third place in the country to do open heart surgery on children. In 1959, he be-gan pioneering research in medical use of computers at Methodist with a grant from the John Hartford Foundation. In addition to multiple publications, he made presentations in meetings all over the country.

In 1969, he took over the Emergency Room at Methodist and ran it for 15 years. During this time, he also became Medical Director of several small Des Moines life insurance companies. He enjoyed the opportunities to travel extensively with these companies and also independently; 22 trips to Europe, 6 to the Far East, 15 to Hawaii, and others to Bermuda and the Caribbean.

John was a passionate player of duplicate bridge. He started winning tournaments in the 1950’s and continued playing competitively through July of this year. He achieved the rank of Grand Life Master, finishing with 22,000 master points, 121st out of the 165,000+ current members of the American Contract Bridge League. With Helen, he represented the US in world champion-ship events in Switzerland and the US.

John is survived by his son, John Gustafson; daughter, Nancy Gustafson; grandchildren, Janice (Ryan) and David (Kerianne); great-grandchildren, Hazel “Rae”, Zane, Henry, and Arthur; five stepchildren; a number of step-grandchildren; siblings, Lillian (James) Mitchell, Robert (Audrey) Gustafson and Dagmar Merrick.

John was preceded in death by siblings, Dwight, Donald and Gordon Gustafson and Mary Baker; and his brother-in-law, Daniel Merrick.

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, August 29, 2023 at Windsor Heights Luther-an Church,1240 66th Street in Windsor Heights, IA followed by a luncheon. Burial with military honors will follow at Resthaven Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be directed to the Wounded Warrior Project or to the ARL in loving memory of John.

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