April 10, 2024
Peter McDermott M.D. '92
Submitted by Peter McDermott
I was 54 when I started night school studying Chinese history at CLU in 1990. I had been accepted into Marquette University School of Medicine after two years as an undergraduate at Marquette and at Oberlin College briefly before that. After receiving my M.D. in 1960, I lived a fulsome life learning to become an anesthesiologist, serving in the US Army as a captain as Chief of Operative Services for a time at Martin Army Hospital in Fort Benning, Georgia.
I began my medical practice in Oxnard at St. John’s Hospital for ten years, and in 1975 I rented my house for two years, packed my wife and five children to live for that time in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia beginning the creation of KFSH, the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center.
After traveling with our family through Europe, parts of Africa, and around the world through Asia, I came back to St Johns and said “move over, I’m back.” I was led into positions as a physician servng St John’s hospital as medical staff president, then as VCMS- Ventura Medical Society Medical Society president, California Society of Anesthesiologists president, and a few more committee roles.
I became president of the American Society of Anesthesiologist in 1992, the year I received my BA from CLU. I went on to enrollment in UCSB as a graduate student in early modern history. MA and Ph.D. led to my return to CLU as a history professor on a part-time basis until 2011. I have served in teaching and publications and speeches as my age is slowing me down after 75. I’m just giving my personal bit.
My family and friends have done wonders in their lives and I am grateful that I could have been a part of theirs. I love CLU, I watch a Lutheran service on-line every Sunday morning and am Grateful for Martin Luther, Cal Lu and the joyful happiness I got.