Portside

Dr. Quentin Young, the crusading progressive physician to President Barack Obama among others, died Monday at his daughter's house in California.

Young, 93, was a lifelong Hyde Parker and the physician to Obama, former Mayor Harold Washington and to writers like Studs Terkel and Mike Royko.

According to people who had spoken to Young's family, Young died on Monday at his daughter Polly Young's house on Monday.

Young was a lifelong advocate for a single-payer health care system and numerous other progressive causes, which he said in 2013 came from his youth growing up in Hyde Park.

"I had the good fortune of being surrounded by progressive people," Young said in 2013 when his biography was released about being surrounded by communists, progressives and other left-leaning groups in the neighborhood during the Great Depression.

In the past three years, he had started to spend the winters in California to be closer to his children, Nancy, Polly, Ethan, Barbara and Michael Young. But it was only his second time every living outside of the neighborhood.

Young served in the U.S. Army during World War II, but returned to Chicago and graduated from Northwestern University.

He spent nearly 35 years at Cook County Hospital both treating patients and advocating for better health care for African Americans in Chicago.

"The county hospital played a pivotal role in the black community, and they really thought it was theirs - it wasn't theirs, it belonged to the Democratic Party," Young said.

He also ran his own practice in Hyde Park where he treated Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during a march in Chicago.

"I received the honor of looking after King during the march," Young said. "He took a rock to the head and had to be sewn up."

His regular patients included Terkel and Royko, who Young said always gave him a hard time.

"He was always very sarcastic with me and never liked my leftist ideas," Young said of Royko. "Studs would at least listen to me."

Young spent more than 25 years advocating for a single-payer health care system in the United States, a cause he continued to fight for until his death on Monday.

Physicians for a National Health Program Statement in Memory of Dr. Quentin Young, 1923 - 2016

The following statement was released today by Dr. Robert Zarr, president of Physicians for a National Health Program:

Dr. Quentin D. Young, who served as national coordinator of Physicians for a National Health Program from 1992-2014, and who also served the organization's past president, died on March 7 in Berkeley, Calif., where he had been under the watchful eyes and care of his daughters and other family members. He was 92.

In addition to his work with PNHP, Dr. Young co-founded and chaired for many years the Chicago-based Health and Medicine Policy Research Group.

Dr. Young was known for his sharp, clear-eyed analysis of social and economic problems, particularly in health care, his deep commitment to social justice and racial equality, his quick wit, his insuppressible optimism, personal courage, and his ability to inspire those around him to join him in the battle for a more equitable and caring world.

Beginning in the late 1980s, he was perhaps the nation's most eloquent and high-profile spokesperson for single-payer national health insurance, or improved Medicare for all, and was a vigorous champion of single-payer legislation, notably "The Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act," H.R. 676, sponsored by Rep. John Conyers Jr. and others.

Dr. Young graduated from Northwestern Medical School and did his residency at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. During the 1970s and early 1980s, he served as chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine at Cook County, where he established the Department of Occupational Medicine. In 1983, Chicago Mayor Harold Washington appointed him president of the Chicago Board of Health, where he served with distinction. From 1952 to 2008, he was an internal medicine doctor in private practice in Chicago's Hyde Park community, where he lived most of his life.

For many years Dr. Young hosted a popular program on WBEZ, Chicago's public radio station, where he discussed health and social issues and took calls from listeners.

In 1998, he had the distinction of serving as president of the American Public Health Association and in 1997 was inducted as a Master of the American College of Physicians. In 2009 he was appointed Health Advocate for the state of Illinois by Gov. Patrick Quinn.

In addition to his distinguished career as a physician, Dr. Young was a leader in public health policy and medical and social justice issues. He was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s personal physician during the latter's stays in Chicago, and during the civil rights era he served as national chairman of the Medical Committee for Human Rights.

In 1999, Physicians for a National Health Program established the "Quentin D. Young Health Activist Award" to honor physicians and other health professionals who exemplify Dr. Young's commitment to social justice. It is regarded as PNHP's highest award.

In his 2013 autobiography, "Everybody In, Nobody Out: Memoirs of a Rebel Without a Pause," Dr. Young wrote as follows:

"From my adolescent years to the present, I've never wavered in my belief in humanity's ability - and our collective responsibility - to bring about a more just and equitable social order. I've always believed in humanity's potential to create a more caring society.

"That viewpoint has infused my relations with family, friends, patients and medical colleagues. It's been a lifelong, driving force to promote equality and the common good, and I believe it has served me well.

"I suppose being a physician has made it easier for me to work toward this goal. Easier, that is, than if I had chosen a different occupation. I've spent a lifetime trying to help others - in my daily rounds, in my clinic, as a hospital administrator, at demonstrations, in my work with health advocacy groups - and it all adds up to deeply rewarding career. Few people have such good fortune.

"But as you've no doubt noticed in the preceding pages, my views and actions have also propelled me into sharp conflict with institutions and person who would perpetuate injustice. That was true yesterday; it remains true today. My work is unfinished."

PNHP extends its condolences Dr. Young's family and friends, and we pledge to carry on his work, forever inspired by his example.

Physicians for a National Health Program (www.pnhp.org) is an organization of 20,000 physicians who advocate for single-payer national health insurance. It was founded in 1986.