In Memoriam: Kenneth R. Kahn, MD

He retired from the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo as a clinical associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology in 2016, but he continued volunteering to teach medical residents and interview medical school applicants.

Khan was known for his modesty and desert-dry sense of humor, family members and friends said. Asked once at a party what he did for a living, the longtime obstetrician instantly replied, “I’m a delivery man.”

During Buffalo’s famed Blizzard of ’77, Kahn wrapped black trash bags over his winter gear, stepped into a pair of skis and braved the howling storm to ski from his Delaware District home to the former Women & Children’s Hospital of Buffalo to care for his patients, family members said.

Kahn relished his role as a teacher of young obstetrician-gynecologists. His medical students, interns and residents were well acquainted with his unique teaching skills, including his weekly “puzzler” during grand rounds, when he encouraged thoughtful responses to his quiz on women’s health.

He received numerous awards for excellence in teaching from the Jacobs School and was voted outstanding medical faculty member in consecutive years, leading the department chair to tell students, “This year you’ve got to select someone other than Dr. Kahn.”

Kahn was presented with the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award in 2010 at the Jacobs School.

The award, sponsored by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, is presented annually to a faculty member who best demonstrates the foundation’s ideals of outstanding compassion in the delivery of care, respect for the patient, their families, and health care colleagues, as well as demonstrated clinical excellence. Selection is determined by student nominations.

One student’s nomination said: “If I had to take away just one lesson from Dr. Kahn, it would be to treat the person, not the disease … I have often found myself in a situation with a patient that I have resolved by asking myself ‘How would Dr. Kahn respond?’ To me, that is the definition of a role model.”

Dori R. Marshall, MD, chief medical officer for Golisano Children’s Hospital of Buffalo and an associate professor of psychiatry at the Jacobs School, was also the former director of admissions at the medical school.

She said Kahn was a “wonderful colleague, devoted teacher and mentor, and a dear friend.”

Kahn joined the Jacobs School’s Admissions Committee in 2017, Marshall said.

“He was an extremely thoughtful committee member, looking at applicants holistically for what they would bring to their learning environment relative to scholastic abilities, community service and commitment to caring for others — the latter signifying their likelihood to develop into a truly devoted physician like himself and his generation of physician colleagues.”

A Buffalo native, Kahn graduated from Nichols School in 1958, Brown University in 1962 and Case Western Reserve University, where he was an OB-GYN resident, in 1966. He then spent two years in Caracas, Venezuela, as a Peace Corps physician before returning to the United States to complete his medical residency at Case Western Reserve. In 1973, Kahn came home to begin his 43-year career as a local obstetrician and gynecologist.

Outside work, Kahn enjoyed numerous hobbies. He was a scuba diver, a skier, a tennis and squash player, an inline skater, a dog walker and, above all, a sailor who enjoyed weekly races on Lake Erie with his sailing buddies. He also loved his golden retrievers and classical music, attending Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra concerts with his wife for more than 40 years.

Survivors include his wife of 62 years, Linda Angert Kahn; one son, H. Bradley Kahn; two brothers, Richard A. and Steven C.; and two grandsons.

A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. July 19 in Temple Beth Zion, 805 Delaware Ave., Buffalo.