In Memoriam

1987-88 AOA President Joseph W. Stella, DO, dies at 92

A family and emergency physician, Dr. Stella received many of the profession’s highest honors during a career that spanned more than 60 years.

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Former AOA president Joseph W. Stella, DO, of Whitehall, Pa., died at home on May 22. He was 92.

A family and emergency physician, Dr. Stella received many of the osteopathic medical profession’s highest honors during a career that spanned more than 60 years.

Spurred to professional leadership in part by discriminatory slights he experienced soon after earning his DO degree, Dr. Stella culminated his service to the profession as the AOA’s 1987-88 president.

“I’ve seen so many changes throughout my span of time,” Dr. Stella said in 2009. “The changes are just amazing. Things that maybe in my wildest dreams I’d hoped for 60-some-odd years ago have now materialized.”

Moving into politics

After graduating in 1943 from the Kirksville (Mo.) College of Osteopathic Medicine-A.T. Still University (KCOM), Dr. Stella served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

Because at that time it did not accept DOs as physicians, the Navy first offered Dr. Stella the rating of pharmacist’s mate, 2nd class, for which he would serve under the supervision of a medical officer. He refused and instead served as a communications officer, drawing on his undergraduate degree from Oberlin (Ohio) College.

After his discharge from the Navy, Dr. Stella practiced family medicine in Hawaii. Like the territory’s handful of other DOs, Dr. Stella did not have hospital privileges, and he would sometimes lose patients when they required hospitalization.

“You become very sensitive after a while to how people regard you as a doctor,” he told The DO in 1987. “If they get the idea that you are ‘kind of a doctor,’ that hurts like hell. That makes you mad, and that is what makes you want to fight.”

In 1963, wanting to practice in a hospital, Dr. Stella joined the former Allentown (Pa.) Osteopathic Medical Center, where he had interned. His career there lasted more than three decades, and he was the founding director of the hospital’s family medicine residency and a trustee. Dr. Stella established pediatric and geriatric clinics at Allentown Osteopathic when he noticed patients using the emergency department for routine care.

By the end of the 1960s, Dr. Stella became more involved in voluntary service to the profession, both regionally and nationally. He served as the 1968-70 president of the Lehigh Valley Osteopathic Society in Pennsylvania and the 1971-72 president of the Pennsylvania Osteopathic Medical Association (POMA).

In 1968, beginning a tenure that would last more than 40 years, Dr. Stella first served as a delegate in the AOA House of Delegates.

During his career, Dr. Stella served 19 years as the secretary-treasurer of the Pennsylvania Osteopathic Family Physicians Society (POFPS) and three years as the secretary of the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians (ACOFP).

He joined the AOA Board of Trustees in 1978 and served for 12 years.

Many honors

In 1975, Dr. Stella accepted the first of a slew of awards when the the POFPS named him its General Practitioner of the Year. The ACOFP did the same three years later. Dr. Stella went on to earn distinguished service awards from the POFPS, as well as from POMA.

In academia, Dr. Stella received the President’s Award from the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in Erie, Pa., in 2008. The Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Athens awarded him the Phillips Medallion of Public Service, and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine presented him with an honorary doctor of laws degree from. KCOM named Dr. Stella its outstanding alumnus in 1994.

Last year, the American Osteopathic Foundation bestowed its Lifetime Achievement Award on Dr. Stella.

The AOA awarded Dr. Stella its highest honor, the Distinguished Service Certificate. And in 2009, Dr. Stella received a Presidential Citation from the AOA.

Dr. Stella is survived by his wife, Darlene, two sons, two daughters, seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

One comment

  1. robert migliorino,d.o.

    Condolences to the Stella family. Served my internship at AOH & Dr.Stella was the most helpful & understanding mentor on staff.He always made time for us interns.Later on,in 1988 he repealed the ban on D.O.’s with allopathic residencies ostracized from osteopathic staffs.

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