SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Michael McChesney Coyle, M.D., died peacefully on Oct. 9, at his home after a short, courageous battle with cancer. He was the loving husband of Janice and devoted father to Alex and Drew. He was the beloved son of Sophie Coyle Erickson, M.D., of Jamestown, N.Y., and Robert McChesney Coyle, M.D., of Pittsburgh, Pa.

Born Nov. 1, 1947, in San Rafael, Calif., he was raised in Pittsburgh, Pa. He attended high school at Western Reserve Academy from 1962 to 1965 in Hudson, Ohio, and graduated from Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., in 1969.

After graduating, he worked as a fishing guide in Canada, until he offered his services in the U.S. Peace Corps. He was stationed in Suva, Fiji, where he taught chemistry at Marist High School and coached the school soccer team. He returned to the U.S. in 1972 to teach high school chemistry in Havi, Hawaii. A year later, he acquired his master’s degree in public health at the University of Pittsburgh. He went on to medical school at the University of Pittsburgh and graduated in 1977.

After completing a three-year pulmonary fellowship at Georgetown University, he married Janice, a nurse at Georgetown University. They wed in Auburn in 1982. He practiced pulmonary/intensive care medicine for eight years at St. Mary’s Hospital and Central Maine Medical Center with his partners, Dr. Richard Corbin and Dr. Ralph Harder. He and Jan had two sons, Alexander McChesney Coyle and Andrew McGranaghan Coyle, whom he loved very much.

In 1989, the family of four moved to Albuquerque, N.M., where he joined the Pulmonary Intensive Care Group at the Lovelace Health Clinic, later to become the medical director as well as the vice president of medical affairs of Lovelace Health Systems. In 2000, the family moved to Phoenix, Ariz., where he was the chief medical officer of St. Joseph’s Medical Center and then became the regional medical director of Catholic Healthcare West for two years. In 2003-04, he was the medical director at Schaller Anderson. In 2004, he worked as the chief medical officer of Abrazo Health Systems to present, a job he truly loved.

Devotion to his family and his medical work were his priorities. Perhaps a pipe dream, he aspired to be a “5-0” tennis player. He enjoyed playing with his close friends. His passions in life were fly-fishing and caring for his roses, and his lifelong dream was to be an English professor in a small college and retire to his cabin in Creede, Colo., along the headwaters of the Rio Grande River.

There are many people who come and go in our lives. A few touch us in ways that change us forever, making us better from knowing them. Michael, you have made a difference in our lives and for this we are grateful.

Thank you to Dr. Raymond Shamos, Dr. Paul Steinberg, Dr. David Drewitz and the medical staff of St. Joseph’s Hospital. Dr. Robert Marschke of Mayo Clinic, Dr. Michael Gordon of Arizona Cancer Center, New Therapeutics Program, Dr. Larry Pass and the medical staff of Scottsdale Healthcare Shea. Dr. Stanford Perlman, and most importantly, Dr. Jeffrey Isaacs of Southwest Hematology Oncology and all his wonderful caring staff.

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