James Harp obituary

 

 

 
James Harp

James Robert Harp passed away at Cathedral Village in Philadelphia on October 1, 2014 with his wife and family at his side. He was 81.

Dr. Harp was born on January 8, 1933 in Pikeville, Kentucky, the son of George Bramlette Harp and Nancy Elliot Harp. He graduated from the Pikeville Academy in a class of 12 and went on to attend Duke University. His studies at Duke were interrupted by his Navy service as a medical corpsman in the U.S. and Japan from 1951 to 1955. Following his military service he returned to Duke where he completed medical school and residency training remaining for a year

on the anesthesia faculty. In 1956 he married Gail Mazza of Pelham, NY.

For two years he worked with Gail’s father, also an anesthesiologist, in West Palm Beach Florida. Then he returned to academia at the University of Tennessee in Memphis. He moved on to the University of Pennsylvania in 1969. From

1975 - 1987 he was chairman of the Anesthesia Department at Temple University and from 1987 -1991, head of the Anesthesia Department at Pennsylvania Hospital.

Dr. Harp was noted for his extensive collaborative research in the United Kingdom, Sweden and the U.S. on the relationship of anesthesia to the flow of oxygen and blood to the brain.

At the age of 58, Dr. Harp changed fields and began a residency in the Temple University Department of Psychiatry followed by a Fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Thomas Jefferson Medical Center. Following this he

worked as a child psychiatrist in New Zealand for two years, the Community Council in West Philadelphia and at

Devereaux in Malvern.

Jim had a great love of music and a voracious appetite for all forms of learning. He played classical guitar, was an accomplished astronomer, an avid fisherman and studied Spanish, French, computer science, and physics among other

topics.

Jim is survived by Gail, his wife of 58 years, his two daughters Ruth and Hilary, his son James, his five granddaughters Jennifer, Julia, Susan, Beverly and Erica, his grandson Justin and his great-grandsons Jacob and David. He is also

survived by his sister Nancy. His sister Mary Jeannette predeceased him.

A memorial service will be held 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 12, 2014 at Cathedral Village, Philadelphia. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Sierra Club or the Cathedral Village 35th Anniversary Fund.

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