David E. Townes ’59

The end stages of acute myeloid leukemia took Dave at his home in Garrard County, Ky., Nov. 1, 2023.

Born in Louisville, to C. Dwight Townes and Kathleen Flowers, he graduated from Fern Creek High School. He graduated from Princeton with a cum laude degree in politics, played freshman basketball, freshman and varsity baseball, was a Keyceptor, and roomed at Cap with Edie and McCarthy.

Dave graduated from the University of Louisville School of Medicine in 1963 and started an internship in ophthalmology at the University of Iowa College of Medicine that was interrupted by two years with the Marine Corps. He served in Operation Starlite as a battalion surgeon in Chu Lai, Vietnam, the official beginning of the Vietnam War. He received the Navy Commendation Medal for treating 248 wounded Marines during the first three days of official warfare. Following his service tour, he returned to the University of Iowa to complete his residency and an MSc in ophthalmology. He practiced in Louisville in the 1970s and 1990s as a partner in a Kentucky practice, and in Sheridan, Wyo., and Bismarck, N.D., in the 1980s. He retired to a small farm in Garrard County in 2000.

He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Marlene; sons Dwight, Paul, and Tyler; and three grandchildren.