Although he looked and sounded like an English nobleman, Dr John Conley was born in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, a small steel mill town just outside of Pittsburgh, in 1912. He was a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and later its school of medicine and an intern at the Mercy Hospital of Pittsburgh. Dr Conley was very popular with the nuns around the hospital, and they sent him off to Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn to become a cardiologist. In the first year of his medical residency, Dr Conley had a slight arrhythmia, but little was known about this condition at that time, and John was told that cardiology was too stressful and that he should go into an easier and less stressful field with better working hours, like otolaryngology. Following this admonition, he completed otolaryngology residency training at Kings County Hospital.

During World War II, Dr Conley served in the Army Medical Corps and spent most of the time in Fort Dix, NJ, attached to the plastic surgical unit, where he learned many techniques of reconstruction. He then applied these principles in the South Pacific and in reconstruction of the war-wounded. John returned to New York City after the war and became an assistant and then associate of George T. Pack, MD, who was a technically superb general oncological surgeon at Memorial Hospital and taught John major ablative surgery of the head and neck.

The combination of his basic training as a resident in otolaryngology, the exposure to ablative surgery with Dr Pack, and the World War II experiences in plastic and reconstructive surgery set the stage for Dr Conley to evolve his unique approach to head and neck surgery.

Dr Conley was a member of the Pack Medical Group, which was a group of physicians who practiced together, most of whom had been affiliated with Memorial Hospital. He held a position as clinical professor of otolaryngology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University and loved this appointment, particularly his involvement in teaching the residents. His long friendship with Dr Daniel Baker, Jr, who was the chairman of the department at Columbia, was something else he cherished. Dr Baker was one of the outstanding members of the ALA and stimulated John's interest in our group, which led to his becoming a member in 1957. Dr Conley was the recipient of the ALA's Newcomb Award in 1974 and the DeRoaldes Award in 1982.

Dr Conley's vast surgical experience led to the authorship of almost 300 contributions to the scientific literature, as well as 8 books. As a result of his productivity and rhetorical eloquence, he was very much in demand as a speaker in this country and abroad. John held many important leadership positions in our field, including president of the American Academy of Otolaryngology and Ophthalmology, member of the board of governors of the American College of Surgeons, founding member of the Society for Head and Neck Surgeons, and founding member and first president of the American Society for Head and Neck Surgery.

John Conley was an excellent educator who each year for many decades had a fellow who worked with him in his office in the preoperative and postoperative management of patients, as well as in the operating room. Dr Conley, who was a superb technician himself, was also an excellent teacher and probably the world's best first assistant. His teaching set high standards for those of us who have gone into clinical practice in academic centers and have taught generations of otolaryngologists about management of the patient with cancer of the head and neck.

Another of the great legacies that John Conley left to all of us whose lives he touched is not only the benefit of his keen intellect and the ability to perform and teach surgical technique, but his philosophy that the physician should comport himself ethically and with dignity and humility and should never lose the opportunity to be seen by his patient as an individual who is interested in his or her problem and is willing to devote the time and power of concentration to listen to what his patients have to say and to help in this way to bring the doctor-patient relationship to the very highest level. He was the ultimate example of professionalism and was a master at making all of his patients feel important and well taken care of and reassured.

John was also a man for all seasons and was an accomplished musician, artist, and poet. He was an extraordinarily sensitive person, which influenced his behavior and engendered the trust and confidence that helped his patients to accept the often debilitating surgery necessary to save their lives. In the office and on rounds, I always marveled at how John dealt with patients and their families with style, honesty, and forbearance. The words he spoke to them are some of his best poetry. Dr Conley is survived by his first wife, Mary, and their 3 children, Mary, John, and Anna, and his grandsons. He is also survived by his wife, Monika, a beautiful and brilliant musician who with her radiant personality brought much enjoyment into John's life.

E.N.M.