Robert W. Coon, MD, the first dean of Huntington, W.V.-based Marshall University's medical school, died Dec. 12, according to The Herald-Dispatch.
Dr. Coon was 96.
Prior to Dr. Coon's arrival, Marshall University had tried to obtain national accreditation twice. Through his hard work, the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine at Marshall University received accreditation from the American Medical Association and the Liaison Committee of Medical Education. The first class of students began at the medical school in 1978.
Dr. Coon went on to become the permanent dean of the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine at Marshall University, as well as the vice president of health sciences.
When he retired in 1985, Dr. Coon received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. He is still honored today at the university with the Robert W. Coon Medical Education Building at the Huntington VA Medical Center.
"He was an outstanding man all the way through," said Robert B. Hayes, PhD, Marshall University president emeritus. "If we hadn't of had him [sic], we never would have had the medical school."