By Wally Pregnall
College of Health Professions

When Glen Askins, M.D., passed away on May 2, the obituaries that followed were appropriately extensive, noting the many achievements and honors of a lifetime spanning 76 years.

For the MUSC community and beyond, it is the qualities known to those closest to Askins, College of Health Professions professor and clinical services department chair, that make his legacy and his loss all the more profound.
Colleagues repeat certain words to describe Askins: thoughtful, insightful, steady, low-key, unflappable, caring, empathetic, humble, endearing and intellectually curious are among the most common.

Dr. Glen Askins: Founder and later senior medical advisor of the Physician Assistant (PA) Program at MUSC; Chair of College of Health Professions Department of Clinical Services. Served on the Marion County school board ; Member and chairman of the S.C. Commission of Higher Education, Committee on Health and Medical Education, and Committee on Planning Assessment. Distinguished Service Award, American Heart Association; Marion Citizen of the Year; Health Sciences Foundation "Clinician of the Year" Award.

Friend and colleague Layton McCurdy, M.D., dean emeritus of the College of Medicine, describes him as "wonderfully complex." Students sensed his interest in their lives and careers was real. Colleagues knew that his love of knowledge and the practice of his profession were authentic. Patients in his care recognized that they were respected, listened to and understood.

Not one to hesitate expressing what he thought, Askins was often direct, a quality sometimes misunderstood until it was evident that his motivation was simply the desire for the best for the patients, students, colleagues and institutions he served. As Arnie Metz, assistant professor in the Physician Assistant Program recalled, "At first, when we were trying to get the PA Program off the ground, I thought of him as a gruff, smoking doctor. As our relationship developed, we both opened up and I saw the kind, thoughtful man behind the deep Southern drawl."

Ben Clyburn, M.D., associate dean for Graduate Medical Education Faculty Development, noted that Askins had no problem pointing out areas in which a student had a weakness and needed additional work, yet he was universally loved and respected by his students because his concern for them was transparent.

Askins' qualities were appreciated by his colleagues as well. Jerry Kurent, M.D., said Askins served as an outstanding role model for his students and residents. "I already was well established in my own career when I came to know Glen Askins as a kind, empathic, and skilled clinician, outstanding educator, and tireless administrator, who possessed a great sense of humor and was fun to be around," said Kurent.

Reamer Bushardt, PharmD, former director of the PA Program and current chair of the Wake Forest University Department of Physician Assistant Studies, appreciates that Askins passed on his gifts. "I don't think anyone ever challenged me the way he did," said Bushardt. "He thought more than he talked, and he always listened." Shortly after informing Askins of his difficult decision to leave MUSC for Wake Forest, Bushardt remembers a note he got from Askins. "I received an envelope in the mail from him a few days later, and there was a little note inside which in his handwriting read 'management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right thing.' He taught me to always choose leadership." The note now hangs above Bushardt's desk, just as it did in Askins' office.

The qualities which endeared Askins to colleagues, students and patients transcended formal relationships and resulted in deep, lasting friendships. As Metz states, "We spent many a day traveling through small-town South Carolina meeting with his innumerable contacts trying to establish clinical training sites for our students. We talked about everything from God to baseball to fishing and hunting."

As they and their wives became friends, they often enjoyed traveling to Florida for spring training baseball games, fall color excursions in Maine and fishing.

Clyburn, almost 30 years Askins' junior, marvels at how easily Askins bridged the generational gap, as they often traveled together to football games or entertained at one another's homes. Kurent recalled the laughs as they traded stories about their fishing excursions. All who knew Askins know he derived his greatest pleasure from his interaction with students, his treasured friends, and above all, his beloved family, he said.

For innumerable reasons, both personal and professional, Askins will be missed by the MUSC community. His legacy will live on not only through his achievements and the many students he sent forth to practice, but through the manner in which he lived life.

"I'm especially going to miss the quiet talks we had about everything and nothing," said Metz—a sentiment undoubtedly shared by many.

In his closing remarks at Askins' funeral, McCurdy quoted Robert Louis Stevenson. "That man is a success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who looks for the best in others and gives the best that he has; who leaves the world better than he found it." McCurdy concluded, "Glen Askins was such a man."