Sam Nixon, MD papers

SAM A. NIXON, M.D., 76, of Nixon died August 17, 2003 in a Victoria hospital. Dr. Nixon was born in Galveston on June 28, 1927, the son of the late Sam A. Nixon, Sr., and Margaret Sandel Nixon. Sam received his Bachelor of Science degree from Texas A & M (1946) (Class of 1947) and his medical degree from The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston (1950), receiving the Ashbel Smith Distinguished Alumni Award from UTMB in 1982. After completing a rotating internship at Fordham Hospital, New York City, he served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps from December 9, 1950 to June 30, 1954, as 11th Field Artillery Battalion Surgeon in Korea and 24th Division Artillery Surgeon in Japan and Korea. He spent twenty-three years as a family physician in rural south Texas (Nixon and Floresville) before moving to Houston at the behest of Truman Blocker, M.D., in 1977 to join The University of Texas Medical School at Houston as Professor in the Department of Family Practice and Community Medicine. A Diplomate of the American Board of Family Practice, he was Director of the Division of Continuing Education and Special Assistant to the President for Community and Professional Relations of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (1977-1992) and Assistant Dean for Continuing Education at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston (1985-1992). After retiring from UTHSCH, he was Associate Medical Director, South Texas Region, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, Inc. (September 1992 - July 1994). He has been active in the Gonzales County Medical Society, the Harris County Medical Society, Texas Medical Association, and the American Medical Association, serving in the AMA House of Delegates for twenty-five years (1969-1994). He was past president of the Texas Academy of Family Physicians (1968) and the American Academy of Family Physicians (1980). He was Chair of the Texas State Rural Medical Education Board (1975-2002). Dr. Nixon was named in December 1985 as a member of the Board of Regents of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) and was Chair of the Board (1988-1992). On May 20, 1995, he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Military Medicine by USUHS. He served as president of the Houston Academy of Medicine (1986) and the Harris County Medical Society (1989). Elected Vice-Speaker of the Texas Medical Association House of Delegates (May 1987), Speaker (May 1989) and President-Elect (May 1990), he was President of the TMA in 1991. The TMA, on May 6, 1999, presented Dr. Nixon with its highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award. Texas A & M University and its Association of Former Students honored Dr. Nixon with the Distinguished Alumnus Award on May 1, 1990. In July of 2002, the Texas Academy of Family Physicians presented him the the first Lifetime Achievement Award for service to the specialty of family medicine. He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Hughes Nixon, of Nixon; four daughters, Alice Nixon of Bayside, Betsy Carrell and husband Mike of Corpus Christi, Jano Nixon of Houston, Dorothy Robinson and husband Rob of San Leon; two sisters, Margaret Arenas of Houston, Judith Greentree of New York, NY.; six grandchildren, Mark Carrell and Mason Carrell of Corpus Christi, Kleberg Nixon of Houston, Caroline Robinson, Kate Robinson, and Emilie Robinson of San Leon; and numerous nieces and nephews.