By Rebecca Goodman
The Cincinnati Enquirer

MILFORD - Dr. John William Vester was an emeritus professor of medicine and biochemistry and emeritus associate dean of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. He worked in a MASH (mobile army surgical hospital) unit during the Korean War, and later was a consultant to the television series and wrote the storylines for three episodes.

Dr. Vester, 79, died at his home in Milford Tuesday.

He was also the medical expert for WKRC-TV from 1981 to 1985.

Dr. Vester was born in Cincinnati in 1924 and grew up in Hyde Park. After graduating from St. Xavier High School, he majored in biology and chemistry at Xavier University from 1941 to 1943. He went on to earn an M.D. from UC College of Medicine in 1947.

He served an internship at Cincinnati General Hospital and residencies in internal medicine at Medical College Hospital in Richmond, Va., and Peter Bent Brigham hospital in Boston.

Dr. Vester was a 1st lieutenant in the Army Medical Corps from 1951 to 1953. He spent a year in the hemorrhagic fever center at the 8228th MASH in Seoul, Korea.

He served again with the Army Reserve from 1981 to 1992, retiring with the rank of colonel. During that time, he was chief of the department of internal medicine at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Vester was a Robert Porter Fellow at the hospital at the University of Virginia, and a professor of medicine, biochemistry and nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

He moved to Milford in 1968 and joined the internal medicine staff at Good Samaritan Hospital, where he was also director of research and director of continuing medical education.

Dr. Vester was a full professor of medicine and biochemistry and associate dean at the UC College of Medicine.

Survivors include his wife of 41 years, Dorothy "Joan" Cline Vester; four sons, John Jr. of Anaheim Hills, Calif., Samuel Russellof Cincinnati, John IIIof Westport, Conn., and Walter III of New York, N.Y.; a daughter, Linda Vester, also of New York; and eight grandchildren.

Services have been held. Burial was in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Montgomery.

Memorials: John William Vester Memorial Fund, c/o U.S. Bank, 828 McClelland Road, Milford, OH 45150.

E-mail rgoodman@enquirer.com