Dr. David J. McConnell passed away peacefully at his home in Warwick, NY, on April 11, 2025, after a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease.
Born on March 27, 1938, in Warren, PA, to Charles and Helen McConnell, Dave had a happy childhood near Buffalo along with many adventurous and fun summers at his grandparents’ home near Pittsburgh.
As an active member of the Boy Scouts, he learned to camp and developed a lifelong love of the natural world. In his sophomore year of high school, the family moved to Tappan, NY, where he was valedictorian of his class at Nyack HS. Cornell University followed with a pre-med focus on Chemistry. Over summer vacations, he managed a boy scout camp in upstate New York. Some of his favorite memories were of the quiet periods setting up the camp and closing down at the end of the season surrounded by the beauty of the New York State mountain landscape. It was there that he met a local doctor who encouraged him to pursue medicine as a career.
He was accepted at Yale University’s School of Medicine after which he completed his clinical training as Intern, Assistant Resident and Chief Resident in Medicine at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center.
Dave had sworn off dating before starting the internship but that ended after just one week when he met his future wife, Pat. They married in 1963 and their daughter, Heather, was born while Dave fulfilled his U.S. Army commitment as an “Army Doc” at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Department of Immunochemistry at the Laboratory of Dr. Elmer Becker in Washington, D.C. Returning to Columbia Presbyterian after completing his service, their son, Tom, was born. Dave pursued academic research for a few more years with a year in London as a Post Doctoral Fellow at the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine and then back at Columbia Presbyterian. During this time, he published several papers, including Inhibitors of Kallikrein in Human Plasma, which is still cited. Dave also taught Immunology at Columbia University and he was appointed Clinical Professor of Medicine in 1987. He believed strongly in supporting those interested in medicine and although he left the research field in 1973, he continued to teach and ran the Adult Allergy Clinic at Columbia Presbyterian. Many of his students kept in touch over the years updating him on their medical careers which he loved to hear about. In 2012, he was named Clinical Professor Emeritus of Medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He was a Fellow of both the American Academy of Allergy and Immunology and the American College of Physicians. He was also a member of the Orange County Medical Society, New York State Medical Society, and the American Academy of Allergy.
In 1973, the family moved to Pat’s hometown of Warwick where Dave enjoyed the abundance of wildlife and open spaces. He opened a general medical practice, later specializing in allergy. He spent many nights caring for patients, answering emergency calls at all hours. The town’s snowplow drivers ensured that even in the middle of the night in a January snowstorm, Dr. McConnell always made it to the hospital. He cared deeply about his patients, often going many extra miles to ensure their health and comfort. Noticing that many of his young allergy patients were unhappy about the skin pinprick tests, he began drawing dinosaurs from the ink dots which seemed to help and amused both the kids and the doctor.
After 30+ years of medical practice, he retired in 2003. However, he kept busy with Meals on Wheels, the outpatient clinic work and teaching at Columbia, and deepened his involvement with Christ Church, where he loved singing in the choir. He and Pat also enjoyed traveling to visit friends and family and spending more time with their grandchildren. In retirement, he took more time to hike, cross-country ski, canoe, and bird watch with friends and family.
As Dave or “Dr. McConnell” gave so much to the communities he served, the community gave back to him in the last years of his life. From the doctors, nurses, aides, and staff at local pharmacies and herbalists, medical offices and hospitals, to the home healthcare aides, therapists, volunteer ambulance corps, to the family, dear friends, church members, and colleagues from far and wide visiting and calling to chat with him about wonderful memories, all helped to make his last years happy and peaceful.
Loving husband, brother, father, and “Pop-pop”, friend and naturalist, university professor and country doctor, Dave loved his life and all the people, places and creatures in it. He will be missed.
Dave was predeceased by his twin sister, Mary, in 1943, and his wife, Pat, in 2020. He is survived by his sister, Helen, in Arcata, CA; his son, Tom and his wife, Rachel, in Elmira, NY, grandchildren Leo, Matthew, and Sarah; his daughter, Heather, in Warwick, NY, and many other family members and dear friends.
Visitation hours at Lazear-Smith Funeral Home in Warwick will be between 5-7 pm on June 27. A funeral service at Christ Episcopal Church will be held on June 28 at 10 am which will also be livestreamed via Vimeo.
To remember Dave, please support your local non-profit and volunteer organizations such as Meals on Wheels, P.O Box 98, Warwick, NY 10990 (www.mealsonwheelsofwarwickny.org), the Warwick Community Ambulance Service, P.O. Box 315, Warwick, NY 10990 (www.warwickems.com), or Hospice of Orange & Sullivan, 800 Stony Brook Court, Newburgh, NY 12550 (https://hospiceoforange.com).