Born in Belleville, Ill., he graduated from Belleville High School, where he was a pitcher on its baseball team that won the Illinois State Championship for three consecutive years. At Princeton, he was a member of Cannon Club and played baseball all four years.
Ken subsequently graduated from Washington University School of Medicine and then completed a fellowship in cardiology there. He continued to practice cardiology at St. Louis Medical Clinic until his retirement at age 76. He also was on the staff of Missouri Baptist Medical Center.
At 34, Ken was drafted into the Army and spent two years as a lieutenant colonel during the Vietnam War. He later became an adjunct member of the faculty of Washington University School of Medicine, where he taught internal medicine.
Ken loved baseball, fishing and reading. He loved taking his grandchildren fishing and purchased a rod for each at their birth. He established the Gentsch Family Life Science Scholarship at Washington University, and Missouri Baptist Medical Center honored him by establishing a lectureship in cardiology in his name.
The class extends its sympathy to his wife, Connie; his children Jeffrey and Lisa; and grandchildren Clayton, Christopher, Allison, Grace, and Danny. Ken’s son, Scott, predeceased him.