Kenneth A. Forde: Surgeon, Alumnus, Trustee, Friend

Ken Forde

Just a few weeks after the 2019 VP&S alumni reunion, when he celebrated his 60-year class reunion with his fellow P&S Class of 1959 classmates, Kenneth A. Forde died at his home June 2, 2019, of heart failure. He was 85.

He was so much more than the words that fit in the headline above: He also was a mentor and teacher, a trusted and compassionate physician, a researcher, a pioneer in his surgical field, and a generous benefactor. Retired since 2006, Dr. Forde remained active at Columbia University and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital as a Columbia University Trustee and NewYork-Presbyterian Trustee, a member of the Columbia University Irving Medical Center Board of Advisors, and a member of the Board of Visitors of Columbia’s School of Nursing. His foundation, the Kenneth A. and Kareitha O. Forde Private Family Foundation, committed $1 million to establish the Kenneth A. Forde, MD, Teaching Scholar Fund in the cardiology division of VP&S, just the latest of his donations to VP&S. 

The six decades since his graduation from Columbia included 50 years on the VP&S faculty. He joined Columbia upon returning from Army service, starting his academic career as an assistant in surgery. He rose through the ranks to become professor of clinical surgery in 1983 and was named the Jose M. Ferrer Professor of Clinical Surgery in 1997. The Trustees named him the Jose M. Ferrer Professor Emeritus of Clinical Surgery upon his retirement.

As a surgeon, he gained prominence through his contributions to gastrointestinal endoscopy and colorectal surgery. An early proponent of the importance of colonoscopy for screening, he came onto the national stage when he performed a televised colonoscopy on “Today” anchor Katie Couric. It had a positive effect on screening rates nationwide. He co-founded the Society of Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons—SAGES—and served as president of SAGES and the New York Surgical Society.

He received multiple honors from his undergraduate alma mater—City College of New York—and from Columbia (including multiple awards for teaching) and the VP&S Alumni Association. He received the Columbia University Alumni Federation Medal and was president of the VP&S alumni association for two years. He was longtime co-chair of the Class of 1959. 

A professorship and an endowed scholarship were established in his name by his patients. 

Among the organizations that honor his service to Columbia is the Kenneth A. Forde Diversity Alliance, established in 2014 to bring together minority medical students, resident physicians, fellows, graduate students, faculty, research scientists, and allies across the medical center to empower the community through networking opportunities, diversity awareness, mentoring relationships, and community service and leadership development opportunities.

At a memorial service held in July at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan, Spencer E. Amory, MD, the current Jose M. Ferrer Professor of Surgery, spoke directly to his mentor: “You gave us ample reason to say nice things about you. Today I offer these two words: ‘Thank You.’ Thank you for sharing your skills in endoscopy, the future of surgery as you described it. Those skills have brought relief to thousands within and beyond our borders. Thank you for your strategic and material support in promoting minimal access surgery at Columbia and through SAGES. I was an early beneficiary. Patients and surgeons continue to enjoy the rewards of your foresight. Thank you for modeling exceptional communication, diagnostic skills, humility, compassion, and forgiveness. Thank you for the confidence you demonstrated in allowing me to care for your patients. Thank you for listening and for supporting me during my professional and personal challenges. We thank you and Mrs. Forde for graciously accepting the role of ‘Papa and Mama Forde.’”

Dr. Forde’s wife of 60 years, Kareitha “Kay,” died in 2017. He is survived by his son, Trevor, two grandchildren, and a sister.