Stephentown ą Donald L Farrell, MD, age 77 of Kaneohe, Hawaii, died October 4, 2008 following a brief illness.
He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Marlies; a brother, Peter Farrell, of Loudonville, NY; a sister, Jean Doherty, of Cocoa Beach, FL; two sons, Kevin, of Snow Camp, NC and Brian, of Loma Linda, CA; four daughters, Meaghan Ly, of Honolulu, Moira Yim, of Newnan, GA, Noreen Nelson, of Omaha, NE and Kerstin Hiser, of Cygnet, OH, and fourteen grandchildren.
Dr. Farrell received his medical degree from Albany Medical College prior to serving in the United States Air Force. He was stationed at Tripler Hospital in Honolulu before serving as a flight surgeon in Tripoli, Libya. After being in private practice in Stephentown, New York, he joined the Kaiser Permanente Medical Group in 1971. Over the course of a 25-year career, he held the positions of Chief of Staff, Chief of Family Practice, Family Practice Residency Director and for many years was head of Kaiser’s Hawaii Kai Clinic. He was the first nationally board certified family physician at Kaiser. He was also Assistant Clinical Professor at the John E. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii, Manoa. He was a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians and served as president of the Hawaii Academy of Family Physicians, and was its delegate to the national academy for many years. He was a member of St. Ann’s Church in Kaneohe, where he served as a lector and Eucharistic minister.
A funeral Mass was held at St. Ann’s on October 10, 2008. In lieu of flowers, the family requested that donations be made to the Hawaii Academy of Family Physicians Foundation (2816 Puumele St., Honolulu 96817) or to St. Ann’s Building Fund (46-129 Haiku. Rd., Kaneohe 96744).