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Blythe: `His genius was his gentleness'

William Brevard Blythe II devoted more than half a century of his life to the University as a doctor, teacher, mentor and servant.

He died Dec. 21 following a heart attack. He was 72.

Stuart Bondurant, professor and dean emeritus of Carolina's School of Medicine, was a classmate of Blythe's in the forties as their fathers had been in the twenties. They did not become close friends until after Bondurant returned to campus as dean of the medical school in 1979.

"His legacy is that he became a leader of a very strong division of nephrology (kidney disease) through his effectiveness as a teacher and mentor," Bondurant said. "The secret of his success was that he inspired the people around him -- and he especially inspired young people."

A native of Huntersville, he graduated from high school at the age of 15. After one year at Oak Ridge Military Academy, he entered the University and graduated in 1948 at the age of 19.

He attended the two-year program at UNC Medical Schools, then completed his M.D. at Washington University in St. Louis in 1953.

He returned to the University as a member of the medical school faculty in 1961.

His research on hypertension in the late 1960s led to new treatments for kidney disease. He won awards from such organizations as the UNC Medical Alumni Association and the National Kidney Foundation. In 1989, he received the Thomas Jefferson Award, one of the University's highest teaching awards.

Said Bondurant: "It was his high standards, his absolute commitment to both the welfare of his patients for whom he was responsible and to the quality of care that he gave them that led to his attracting some stellar groups of doctors interested in the kidney. The truth is that he also inspired doctors throughout this medical school and the state of North Carolina and the nation."

Marjorie Crowell, associate vice chancellor for development, met Blythe in 1988 while working with him on the 40th Reunion Campaign for the Class of 1948. She remembers him as a person who always said yes to whatever the University asked him to do.

What stood out was his ability to run a meeting with almost surgical precision. He always kept one eye on the purpose at hand, the other eye on the clock.

"Bill had such amazingly sound judgment and was always so no-nonsense," Crowell said. "He was always aware of his and other people's time. He didn't let people go off on tangents yet was always able to fit in humor. It was a rare combination. I thought the world of him. It's just a tremendous loss."

Bondurant said Blythe had a calmness and maturity about him that few others could match.

"Part of his genius was his gentleness," Bondurant said. "He was so gentle that he created a setting in meetings that allowed calm rationality to prevail rather than emotional conflict."

Author Doris Betts, alumni distinguished professor in the English department, saw those qualities as Crowell did while serving with Blythe on various boards and committees, including the Board of Directors for UNC Press.

"He held the view that no meeting should last beyond one hour," Betts said.

If he was the chair, Betts said, the meeting would adjourn in 60 minutes. If he was a member, he simply got up and left.

"UNC would benefit if his views became commandments."

She remembers the day that Blythe treated her to a tour of the dialysis unit for research for a novel that became Souls Raised from the Dead.

"He had already surmised that I dreaded it, had expectations of morbid and sad patients. And he thoroughly enjoyed my surprise at the people who, while on machine, were busy laughing, joking, doing crosswords and embroidery, playing cards, or dozing.

"When we left, I was still amazed by the upbeat mood of the place and said so. He said as he got into the car, `I like everything about human beings except whining.'"

One of the things she liked most about him was his sense of humor.

She remembers how Blythe sat in on a talk she gave at the Chapel Hill Library after Souls Raised from the Dead was published.

During the question and answer session, Blythe stood up to tell her about a young woman patient who had just had a kidney transplant. The young woman had done fine, until she went home and somebody gave her Betts' novel to read.

"`She read it and suffered such a severe panic attack that she had to be readmitted to the hospital,'" Betts remembered Blythe saying with a solemn shake of his head. "`And I saw her chart. The emergency room physician had written "Betts syndrome."

Another surprise encounter happened at a shooting range in Lee County called Deep River Clays. They were both astonished to see each other there, Betts remembered. She was there to take pistol-shooting lessons. He was there, as he was almost every Wednesday, to shoot skeet with Matt Hodgson of UNC Press.

"Thereafter, he referred to me as `Pistol Packin' Mama.'"

Betts was never a patient of his, but believes she got to know him well enough to understand the kind of doctor he was.

"I do think he listened to patients, taught medical students to hear the people behind the symptoms. He was a good listener."

His father, Legette Blythe, had published many Biblical and historical novels. His son Will is a writer and editor whom Betts had in a creative writing class. A daughter, Anne, is a writer living in Carrboro who has covered the University for the Chapel Hill News and The News & Observer.

"I think he had a literary mind, full of allusions and links and tie-ins," Betts said. "So he could listen and respond on multiple levels. He was proud of being from the Piedmont, my own territory, and proud of his Southern roots.

"He was the kind of man who -- if you saw him coming -- automatically made you smile."

In addition to Anne and Will, Blythe is survived by his wife, Gloria, of Chapel Hill; sons David, a Baltimore physician, and John of Charlottesville, Va.; a brother, Samuel of Winston-Salem; and a sister, Lovelace B. Pugh of Huntersville.

The family asks that donations be sent to the Blythe Family Fund at the University of North Carolina Press, Brooks Hall, CB# 6215; the Medical Foundation of North Carolina, 880 Airport Road, CB# 7565; or the Health Sciences Library, South Columbia Street, CB# 7585.

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