Ronald Francis Yatteau, M.D., age 83, of Lenoir City, passed away Feb. 18 from pancreatic cancer.
Dr. Yatteau was born on Sept. 22, 1940, to Donald F. Yatteau and Henrietta M. Lieser. His father was a meteorologist for the U.S. Air Force and stationed for a time in Hawaii and Japan. After retirement, he continued to work for United Air Lines.
During Dr. Yatteau’s childhood, he lived briefly in Hawaii, where he survived the bombing and strafing of his home in Honolulu during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
Ten years later, as a high school student living with his family in Tokyo, he came upon a Japanese infant drowning in a swift-water canal and successfully rescued the child with the help of two fellow students.
In 1954, he was awarded the rank of Eagle Scout and a brotherhood membership in the Order of the Arrow by the Boy Scouts of America.
After graduating from high school in 1958, Dr. Yatteau attended Georgetown University, where he received his bachelor’s degree in biology in 1962.
He attended the Medical College of Virginia and received his M.D. degree in 1966. While still in medical school, he was elected to membership in the Alpha Omega Alpha National Medical Honor Society and the Sigma Zeta National Science Honor Society.
He was awarded the Eben Cary Memorial Award in Anatomy in 1963 and the Radiology Prize in 1966 while still a medical student.
During his medical internship, he was awarded the “Outstanding Intern of 1967” by his fellow classmates and medical students in training.
He entered the U.S. Air Force as a flight surgeon and was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, where he supported several combat squadrons involved in the Vietnam War.
In 1968, he transferred to Lackland Air Force Base to begin his medical residency training at Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center. In 1970, he continued his postgraduate training at Duke University Medical Center and completed his cardiology fellowship training in 1972.
After fulfilling his military obligation, he moved his family to Knoxville and joined the medical staffs of Park West and East Tennessee Baptist hospitals. He co-founded East Tennessee Heart Consultants, a private-practice cardiology group that eventually grew to over 40 cardiologists serving East Tennessee and parts of Kentucky and North Carolina.
He was board certified in internal medicine, in cardiology, in the American College of Sports Medicine as program director, and a diplomate in interventional cardiology. He also enjoyed fellowships in numerous professional medical organizations.
Dr. Yatteau helped establish the Baptist Hospital Heart Center and Heart Institute for the comprehensive evaluation and treatment of heart disease. He was instrumental in establishing the cardiovascular surgery program at East Tennessee Baptist Hospital.
He oversaw the first introduction of the so-called “clot busting” drugs that were instrumental in saving many lives by dissolving the clots causing heart attacks.
As the medical director of the Heart Institute, he and his colleagues performed the first coronary artery angioplasties utilizing balloon dilatation, stents, laser, radiation, and “roto-router” technology. He established the first chest pain emergency room in East Tennessee for fast-tracking and coordinating the rapid treatment of heart-attack patients designed to prevent or minimize damage from heart attacks.
He enjoyed traveling, camping, kayaking, and skiing with his family. He was an avid photographer and enjoyed genealogy and cooking.
He was preceded in death by his parents and a daughter, Michelle Garcia.
Surviving to cherish his memory are his loving wife of 40 years, Anne Katherine Van Orsdell Yatteau Esq.; her daughter, Kimberly (Kevin) Quigley, M.D., who he raised alongside his own three children from a previous marriage; a daughter, Lisa Ritchie; a son, Ron (Jackie); brothers, Dennis (Susan), Jerry (Liz), Tom, and Rick (Diane); and sisters, Jackie (Ron) Egli, Cheryl (John) Denson, and Donna (Nick) Gilbert; and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Dr. Yatteau was a faithful member of St. John Neumann Parish in Farragut. A funeral Mass for Dr. Yatteau was celebrated on March 9 at St. John Neumann. A burial service followed with full military honors.
