Excerpts from obituary published in San Diego Union-Tribune on 3/1/2015:
NAVY DOCTOR WHO LED MEDICAL SYSTEMS
Quintous Crews enjoyed a prestigious career as a Navy doctor, including leading the radiology department at Balboa Naval Hospital in the early 1970s. "He knew his business, he knew radiation oncology, he knew radiology," said retired Rear Admiram Frederic Sanford, who was recruited to San Diego by Dr. Crews in 1974. "It was the early days of radiation therapy. He was supportive of better technology, more definitive ways of directing the radiation without damaging the tissue." Dr. Crews died of a cerebral hemorrhage on January 21 at Sharp Memorial Hospital. He was 85.
Dr. Crews established a radiation therapy residency program at Balboa hospital. "He was a very good physician," Sanford said. "When I met him, he was chair of the department and that was primarily an administrative job, but he had done a lot of radiation therapy there and it was obvious he had very good rapport with his patients and the staff." Dr. Crews left the Balboa hospital in 1976 for Bethesda, Maryland, and his Navy career continued for another decade. When he retired from the Navy as a Rear Admiral in 1986, he returned with his wife to their Point Loma home and launched his second career. Dr. Crews was recruited to serve as the first chief medical officer for the R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility, which opened in 1987. He was involved from the ground up, eventually overseeing every aspect of health care for more than 4,600 inmates at the state prison in Otay Mesa. "He had an enormous ability to know how to develop and organize and implement things," said Tom O'Neill, the prison's first health services administrator. In 1999, another opportunity arose to create a health care program for a new facility. Dr. Crews was hired as the first medical director of the Veterans Home of California-Chula Vista. He was involved from its inception.
Quintous Earl Crews Jr. was born on September 19, 1929, in Port Arthur, Texas, to Anita Leger Crews and Quintous Earl Crews Sr. He graduated in 1955 from the University of Texas School of Medicine in Galveston. Following his internship at Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix, he joined the Navy in July 1956 as a reserve officer in the Medical Corps, and by March 1958 he was appointed a full commissioned officer with the rank of lieutenant. Dr. Crews' compassion knew no bounds, his friends said. He cared for all patients equally, no matter the location, and was a dedicated family man to his wife and children. Dr. Crews is survived by his wife of 60 years, Maybelle Bierschwale Crews, 4 children, 11 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren. Services were held at Greenwood Memorial Park in San Diego
Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)
