Dr. Nicholas Vick, former chair of the neurology department at NorthShore Evanston Hospital, was known for his advancements in the research and treatment of brain tumors, but also for his extraordinary compassion.
“He was a highly, highly intelligent man who possessed great warmth and empathy for people,” said Dr. Janardan Khandekar, director of molecular medicine at NorthShore Medical Group and a former colleague at NorthShore Evanston Hospital. “As a physician, he believed strongly that we don’t treat diseases, we treat people with diseases.”
Dr. Vick, 74, who founded a regional clinical neuro-oncology program at NorthShore Evanston Hospital in the early 1970s, died of kidney and heart failure Thursday, Oct. 2, in his home in Evanston. He retired from active practice in 2013.
Dr. Vick, the author of more than 100 articles and a frequent speaker at seminars, taught thousands of students at the medical schools of the University of Chicago and Northwestern University, where he received the outstanding teacher award nine times during his 31 years as a faculty member.
“As a mentor and teacher, he made his lessons simple, understandable and clinically useful to his students,” Khandekar said. “He was a role model to students in that he practiced what he preached. He treated the whole patient, physically and emotionally, using his exceptional set of skills.”
One of his patients was Michael Schostok, who had been diagnosed with grade IV glioblastoma. His wife, Mary S. Schostok, a judge on the Illinois 2nd District Appellate Court, wrote of Dr. Vick’s handling of the case on the website of her late husband’s foundation.
“Having been referred to him by a close friend and neurologist, we knew we were in good hands. As a matter of fact, we were told, ‘he is the best in the country’ and as the days and months passed, we were more convinced than ever that no truer words were ever spoken.
“As frightened as we were, we were immediately comforted by his compassion. This ‘grandfatherly figure’ knew exactly how to put us at ease, even at the most trying time in our lives.”
Dr. Vick was born and spent his early childhood on the North Side before moving with his family to Highland Park in his teens. After graduating from Highland Park High School, he received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy at the University of Michigan in 1961 and graduated from the U. of C. medical school in 1965, where he remained for his internship and residency in neurology.
His careerlong interest in brain tumors began in the late 1960s, when he was a fellow at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.
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“A researcher at the NIH let him look at brain cells through the lens of a microscope, and he was immediately fascinated,” said his wife of 52 years, Lois. “He knew at that moment what he wanted to do.”
Upon his return to Chicago in 1970, Dr. Vick developed an NIH-supported laboratory program focusing on malignant gliomas — tumors that start in the brain or spine — at the U. of C.
Soon after, Dr. Vick founded a regional clinical neuro-oncology program at NorthShore Evanston Hospital, beginning what would become a decadeslong relationship with the hospital.
“He was a ‘triple threat’ in academic neurology — an astute clinician, a master teacher and highly regarded basic and clinical researcher,” Khandekar said.
Dr. Vick also is survived by three sons, Andrew, Robert and Stephen; a sister, Louise Lapping; and five grandchildren.
Services were held.