BY BEN L. KAUFMAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Dr. Carl William Kumpe, researcher and physician, died at home in Covington on Tuesday after a heart attack. He was 86.
Graduated with honors from the University of Toledo and medical school at the University of Cincinnati, Dr. Kumpe served in the famous 8th Air Force in World War II and left the service a major with a Bronze Star.
He completed his war-interrupted residency in internal medicine - gastroenterology at Cincinnati's General Hospital (now University Hospital) and began his practice in Covington in 1947.
Dr. Kumpe published at least 10 scholarly papers, of which three were regarded as classics. An article on aortic stenosis was recognized as a major contribution to heart valve research.
As a resident after the war, Dr. Kumpe pioneered the now-universal use of a needle to take tissue samples from the liver.
A board-certified internist and a fellow of the American College of Physicians, he had been president of the medical staffs of Booth Memorial and St. Elizabeth Hospitals and the Cincinnati Society of Internal Medicine.
Dr. Kumpe's wife of 41 years, Ruth, died of leukemia in 1981. Dr. Kumpe retired in 1982. He had planned to retire at 70, his daughter, Susan Kumpe Bossert, of Hyde Park, said Friday, "but I think he was exhausted by his work."
He also was a Mason, a fisherman and a hunter.
Vigorous to the end, he lived by himself and drove to a friend's home Monday night for a regular visit, Mrs. Bossert said. She followed in her car, lest he need help in the rain.
But when it was time to walk to the house, "He offered me his arm . . . "
Earlier Monday, Mrs. Bossert said, she found her father leaning over his kitchen sink. When she expressed concern, he responded, "When you're 86, you have trouble breathing."
"He loved being a doctor," Mrs. Bossert said. "He liked caring for people. He liked listening to people and making them well." Dr. Kumpe also is survived by his son, Dr. David Kumpe of Denver; sisters Ruth Pasternak of Toledo, Edna Miller of Maumee, Ohio, and Mary Southerland, of Lawrenceburg, Ind.; and five grandchildren. There will be no visitation.
Funeral will be at 11 a.m. Monday at First United Methodist Church, Fifth and Greenup Streets, Covington. Burial will be in Highland Cemetery, Fort Mitchell.
Memorials may be made to the First United Methodist nursery - day care, or the Children's Home of Northern Kentucky, 200 Home Road, Covington, Ky. 41011. Susan Vela contributed.
