Henry McIntosh was born in Gainesville, Florida on July 19, 1921 and raised in West Palm Beach, Florida. He died peacefully at age 89 on December 26, 2008 with his wife, Harriet, by his side.
Henry graduated from Davidson College in 1943. He left medical school at the University of Pennsylvania after his first year in order to join the army and serve his country during WW II. He became airborne qualified and was quickly transferred to the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the CIA.
During his tenure with the OSS, he became a member of an elite group of World War II commandos called the Jedburgh. The Jedburgh were three-man teams, consisting of a U.S. or British officer, a resistance fighter, and a radio man. This group parachuted behind German lines in occupied Europe to provide reconnaissance and conduct guerilla warfare, cooperating with the local resistance fighters.
Following the invasion of Normandy, the OSS parachuted Henry behind Japanese lines in China, where he continued to work with the resistance fighters until the end of the war. One of his former Jedburgh colleagues was William Colby, who eventually became Director of the CIA. While serving in the military, Henry McIntosh was awarded the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars, and France's Croix de Guerre.
Following the war, Henry returned home and finished medical school at the University of Pennsylvania. After graduation from Medical School, he began a twenty year stint at Duke University Medical School, serving as Chief of Cardiology from 1966 to 1970, when he then became Chairman of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine from 1970 to 1977.
In 1974 he was elected President of the American College of Cardiology and during this time voiced criticism of the tobacco industry before this was a popular thing to do.
Following his chairmanship of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, Henry decided that he wanted to return to Florida and take care of patients, not as Chair of Medicine, but as the patients’ doctor. He thus became a member of the staff at the Watson Clinic in Lakeland and worked there until 1992. During that time he practiced preventive cardiology. He later joined a group in Tampa practicing preventive cardiology at St. Joseph's Hospital.
In 1984 Henry, along with many others colleagues in Florida, formed the first chapter of the American College of Cardiology also in 1984, he and a close friend in Central America had the idea that perhaps an organization should be formed devoted to providing advanced cardiac care in underserved parts of the world. He worked hard in collaboration with Rotary International and other philanthropic organizations to form Heartbeat International.
Heartbeat International is a philanthropic organization that provides life-saving pacemakers to needy patients around the world. Indigent populations of 24 countries and 41 centers around the globe have benefited from this organization. Henry had the vision of serving his fellow man and his country by having “pacemakers serve as peacemakers”. At the present time, this organization has saved or restored function to some 9,000 lives. For his contribution to the development of Heart Beat International, he received a Presidential Citation, presented in the Rose Garden in 1986 by President Reagan.
As a cardiologist, he was awarded a Mastership of the ACC (MACC), the Distinguished Fellowship of the American College of Cardiology, Distinguished Service Awards from the Heart Rhythm Society and the Florida Chapter of the American College of Cardiology.
On a personal note, I admired Henry McIntosh for many things. When I was young, Henry invited me to interview for a position at Baylor College of Medicine. The arrangement did not work out, but this was my first contact with this unique man and unique cardiologist, and we had been friends since that time in the early 1970s. As a fellow Floridian, I had contacts with Henry on many occasions, including membership in his incredible contribution to the world of indigent patients requiring pacemakers—Heartbeat International.
In addition to being president of our professional society (ACC), Henry and I have something else in common. We both were Captains in the Army and both were airborne-qualified during our military service. Of course, Henry really did the airborne thing and parachuted into France behind enemy lines prior to the invasion of Normandy and then later into China. He was truly a hero both in war and in cardiology.
In his later years, Henry began working with Project Grace. He did this because of the “errors” he made in teaching young physicians, who when their patient died, he would ask them to ask themselves if there wasn’t one more thing they overlooked to keep this patient alive. He expressed the opinion that he was wrong, and that we should know when to allow patients to die with peace and dignity.
There are many things that Henry was noted for, but the typical American cardiologist will recall that Henry led the charge on jogging runs at our national meetings. It was his inspiration that led to the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology's official heart runs during the national meetings. He also was a firm believer that “the service we give to mankind is the rent we pay to live on this planet.”
In summary, I have always thought of Henry McIntosh as a distinguished leader in cardiology, a compassionate humanitarian, and a role model for cardiologists and Americans. Dr. McIntosh served his country, the cardiovascular community, and his patients with exceptional valor. He will be missed by all who knew him.