Dr. Anthony ‘Tony’ C. Pagedas

Dr. Anthony ‘Tony’ C. Pagedas, 88, of Greendale, Wisconsin was born on May 27, 1934 and born into eternal life on March 18, 2023. Beloved and cherished husband of 54 years to Frances (nee Simios). Devoted and loving father of Constantine (Sofia Stavroula) Pagedas and Stamatina (Michael) Riteris. Proud grandfather of Anthony, Joanna, Elvis, and Stella. Dedicated brother of Athena Pagedas. Uncle to many nieces and nephews. Preceded in death by his brother Dr. Thomas C. (Elaine) Pagedas and his parents Constantine and Elizabeth Pagedas.

Tony came from humble circumstances. Born in Emporia, Kansas to immigrant parents during the Great Depression, he saw first-hand the sacrifices of his father who ran the Topic Café, the town’s only 24-hour diner, and his mother who had to raise a family that was not always accepted by the local community because of their Greek heritage and heavy accents. The Pagedas family, however, made the best of it and were eventually accepted as the locals grew to enjoy their hospitality. When Tony and his older brother Tom were not working at their father’s restaurant, they were paperboys for the Emporia Gazette and William Allen White, the Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper editor and author whose writings extolled the virtues of small-town America, close community, and active citizen participation – a progressive philosophy which resonated with Tony for the rest of his life.

Even though his family decided to pick up and move to Elkhart, Indiana while he was in the middle of high school, Tony was nevertheless pulled back to Kansas. He decided to attend the University of Kansas where one of his childhood friends, future Hall of Fame coach Dean Smith, had gone to play basketball and which in 1952, had just won the National Championship. Although Tony graduated from Kansas with a degree in Pharmacy in 1956, the highlight of his time there was probably following in Smith’s footsteps and being coached by the legendary Phog Allen as a reserve shooting guard on the nationally recognized program.

After graduation, Tony quickly found being a pharmacist to be personally unfulfilling, so he joined the U.S. Army Medical Corp before returning to school to pursue his medical degree at Indiana University, graduating in 1963. He subsequently interned at Detroit Receiving Hospital and completed his residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Wayne State University and Hutzel Hospital in Detroit, Michigan in 1968.

After marrying the love of his life Frances in 1969, Tony moved his small but growing family to establish a medical practice in Milwaukee, which over the next 41 years grew to become one of the city’s largest for OB/GYN. During his career, he served as the Chief of Staff at Saint Francis Hospital, as well as Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at both Saint Francis and Saint Luke’s hospitals. Despite the pressures and time constraints of a career in medicine, however, Tony was a devoted family man. He and Fran were inseparable. Tony shared with her his love of travel, history, fine art, and the opera, and he reserved Friday nights as a standing date with her to go to the movies. He also made sure to carve out time for numerous family vacations.

Tony, however, never lost his passion to serve his country and returned to the U.S. Army Medical Corp as a Lieutenant Colonel in the 350th Evacuation Hospital during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm in 1990 and 1991. For his service, he received the Army Commendation Medal, as well as the Kuwait Liberation Medal, the Saudi Arabia Liberation Medal, and the Southwest Asia Service Medal with 3 Bronze Service Stars. Further, his experience in the U.S. field hospitals in Saudi Arabia inspired him to develop several surgical tools in the then new field of laparoscopy for which he holds twelve patents. He also authored a humorous, yet touching, personal memoir of his experiences in the Gulf War as a ‘combat gynecologist’.

Tony was a caring and loving person to all, dedicating himself to helping others without precondition or expectation. As a physician, he drew his strength from other peoples’ well-being. Beyond treating his countless female patients and delivering more than 2,000 babies into this world, Tony had an enormous impact on the lives of people with whom he came into contact – whether it was lifting the spirits of a child cancer patient, connecting an Iraqi prisoner of war with their worried family in the U.S., or tearing up a patient’s bill whose family had come upon hard times. His noble, humanitarian nature was recognized in 1993 when he received a local Jefferson Award for Public Service. He will be deeply missed by his family, his friends, the community, and the country he was so proud to have served.

A visitation will be held at Krause Funeral Home, 9000 West Capitol Drive, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Wednesday, March 22 from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM with a Trisagion service at 5:00 PM. Additional visitation at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church will be held on Thursday, March 23 at 9:30 AM with the funeral service beginning at 10:30 AM. Burial will follow at Pinelawn Memorial Park.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church.