Kazimer B. Skubi, M.D., died Oct. 5, 2003.

He was born June 26, 1911, in Seattle, to Polish immigrant parents. He was inspired early in life to become a physician by the caring ministrations of a family doctor during the devastating influenza epidemic of 1918. With the help of his family and a supportive medical community, he persevered to become a leader in the specialty of internal medicine in Seattle, where he practiced from 1944 to 1984.

He completed undergraduate studies at the University of Washington in 1932. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis during his first year of pre-medical studies at the University of Chicago. For the next seven years he pursued his medical studies even though they were often interrupted by the rigorous treatment regimes of the time. In later years, he often credited his illness with teaching him a deep understanding of medical practice from the perspective of the patient.

In 1940 he received a medical degree from Rush Medical College, Chicago. He pursued specialty training in internal medicine over the next four years with internships at the Hospital for Women in Baltimore and University of Minnesota Hospital. It was at Minnesota that he met and married the love of his life, Marjorie Paterson, a nurse in training.

His 50-year medical career is marked by many noteworthy moments. While a patient, he worked in the X-ray department of Firland Sanatorium, and as a laboratory assistant to doctors Byron Francis and James Blackman at Riverton Sanatorium. As a medical student in Chicago he was privileged to work as an X-ray research assistant to professor of urology Dr. Charles Huggins, who later won a Nobel Prize for this and other research concerning male and female hormones in cancer treatment.

Throughout most of his medical career, Dr. Skubi was an active clinical instructor at Swedish Hospital and University of Washington School of Medicine. He served as the Swedish Hospital’s chief of staff for two terms in the late 1950s.

According to his family, all of his clinical training and life experience were focused on his life’s goal, to provide high-quality primary medical care to his patients in private practice. He understood human compassion and accessibility were an essential component of medical practice. In an effort to control costs and increase continuity of care, Dr. Skubi joined with doctors Wallace Lindahl and Robert Morton in 1949 to create Seattle’s first group practice in internal medicine, at 702 Summit Ave. Over the years, the practice expanded, and continues today as Minor and James Medical Group.

Although singularly dedicated to his medical profession, Dr. Skubi actively enjoyed other interests and accomplishments. In 1932, while enrolled in the University of Washington Army ROTC, he competed in the marksmanship team that won the national championship. He was an avid light-tackle angler of salmon and steelhead. He also is remembered as a stylish dancer and a low-handicap golfer who enjoyed memberships at Broadmoor, Sand Point and Useless Bay country clubs. He was an active supporter of the Polish Home Association of Seattle, of which his parents were founding members. In later years he took up gardening and a study of shorelines issues related to his beloved summer home on Sunlight Beach, Whidbey Island.

He was preceded in death by his parents; a twin brother, Steven; and an older brother, Anthony.

He is survived by his wife, Marjorie; three sons, Dr. K. Byron Skubi (Jane Mays) of Oak Harbor, William Skubi (Janis Skubi) of Coupeville and Craig A. Skubi (Linda Duchin) of Seattle; a daughter, Ronda Skubi (Edward Sheets) of Portland, Ore.; four grandchildren, Andrew and Elizabeth Sheets, Austin Skubi and Kazimer L. Skubi; three nieces; six nephews; and many former patients and colleagues in medicine.

Memorials may be made to the Seattle Public Library Foundation, 800 Pike St., Seattle, WA 98101, or online at www.foundation.spl.org, or a charity of choice.