Robert W. Jamplis, MD, a clinical professor of surgery at Stanford and the first president and CEO of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, died Feb. 3, at his home in Woodside after a long illness. He was 82.

Jamplis, the son and grandson of physicians, was born in Chicago and educated at the University of Chicago, receiving his medical degree in 1944. He interned in Hawaii at the United States Naval Hospital and completed advanced training in general surgery and thoracic surgery at the Mayo Clinic. He completed two tours of duty as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy including serving in the Pacific.

Jamplis came to California in 1952, joined the Palo Alto Medical Clinic in 1954 and embarked on a long and distinguished career as a devoted medical practitioner and administrator in the community and teacher of surgery at Stanford.

"Dr. Jamplis was doing thoracic surgery for the Palo Alto Clinic when I was doing thoracic surgery for Stanford and we had a mutually supportive and very friendly relationship," said emeritus faculty member James B.D. Mark, MD, the Johnson & Johnson Distinguished Professor in Surgery (1978-2001). "Dr. Jamplis was an enthusiastic and extremely fine teacher. He was a true visionary, no question about it."

Mark noted Jamplis’ stature in the profession and his dedication, recalling that he served as president of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons and that as recently as last month he attended the meeting of the San Francisco Surgical Society of which he was a past president.

During Jamplis’ tenure, the Palo Alto Medical Clinic became part of Sutter Health, one of the nation’s largest community-based nonprofit health networks. He also led the fund-raising campaign behind the relocation of the Palo Alto Clinic to a new site on El Camino Real.

The Senior Coordinating Council of Palo Alto gave him a Lifetime of Achievement Award in 1996 in recognition of his accomplishments. His numerous other honors include election to the Institute of Medicine and membership in the American Surgical Association and the American Association for Thoracic Surgery. In 1991 he received the Mayo Foundation Distinguished Alumnus Award and in 2002 the John W. Gardner Visionary Award from Pathways Hospice Foundation.

He is survived by his son Mark Prior Jamplis, of Atherton, and daughter Elizabeth Jamplis Bluestone, of Pacific Palisades, and five grandchildren and his wife Cynthia Soles, of Woodside, and her three sons and their children. His first wife, Roberta Prior Jamplis, mother of his two children, died in 1995.

A service will be held Tuesday at 2 p.m. at Stanford Memorial Church. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, Office of Philanthropy, 795 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, CA 94301.