Joseph L. Darr M.D.

Joseph L. Darr, M.D. passed away at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on October 31, surrounded by his family. A private funeral mass was held on November 13, at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in La Quinta, followed by a Military Honors burial ceremony and 21-gun salute at Forest Lawn Mortuary in Palm Springs. Dr. Darr was a dedicated physician and highly-respected ophthalmologist, a decorated military officer and a trail-blazing community leader. He was a devoted family man and a dear friend to many. Above all, he was a man of devout faith who believed that his life's calling was in the healing service of others. Born on May 1, 1933 in the small town of Cumberland, Maryland, "Joe" came from sturdy Catholic roots that traced back to County Galway, Ireland. His parents enrolled him in St. Mary's Elementary where he would become one of the parish's most dedicated altar boys. In the first grade, Joe fell in love with Lois Nehring, a sweet but shy little girl, who dazzled him with her ability to play the piano and the violin. This same talented, kind-hearted girl would become his one-and-only bride in 1956, and would stand by his side for the next 58 years. Joe attended Cumberland's La Salle High School where he received a rigorous education from the Christian Brothers. Not only was he Vice President and Valedictorian of his senior class, but he was also voted Most Scholarly, Most Likely to Succeed, Best Dressed, Best Looking and Most Courteous. He was accepted into the pre-med program at La Salle University, in Philadelphia, PA, and attended medical school at the University of Maryland, in Baltimore. He and Lois dated long-distance while she majored in Music and Piano Performance at Ursuline-Bellarmine University in Louisville, KY. The two married after Joe's first year in medical school. Upon graduation in 1959, Joe was selected to serve in the Medical Internship Program with the U.S. Army Office of the Surgeon General, and he began his military career as a First Lieutenant at Madigan General Hospital at Ft. Lewis, WA. The following year he was promoted to Captain and commissioned to take part in the U.S. Naval Air Training Command Program in Pensacola, FL. There, he soloed the Navy T-28 aircraft, and was awarded his Navy "Wings of Gold" and a place in the 3rd Army's prestigious Special Services Medical Corps. As a Naval Flight Surgeon he was assigned to the "Screaming Eagles" squadron of the 101st Airborne Division out of Ft. Campbell, KY. He furthered his training at the School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base, in TX. In 1963, Dr. Darr was offered a residency in the esteemed Ophthalmology program at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. As Chief Resident there, he studied ophthalmic pathology with the famed Dr. Lorenz Zimmerman at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and with Dr. Marshall M. Parks, "father of pediatric ophthalmology," at Johns Hopkins University. In 1966, Dr. Darr was assigned Chief of the Department of Ophthalmology at Tripler General Hospital in Honolulu, where his practice included performing extensive facial and ocular reconstructive surgery on wounded soldiers. As a Flight Surgeon, as well, he performed war-time duties in Vietnam for which he was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for Meritorious Service and the Army National Defense Service Medal. Promoted to Lt. Colonel in 1969, Dr. Darr returned to Walter Reed where he was named Asst. Chief of Ophthalmology. After receiving an Honorable Discharge from the Army, Dr. Darr left the military to pursue a career in private practice. An ardent scholar of U.S. history, especially that of the trail-blazing days of the "Old West," it was his dream to "stake claim" in the painted desert of Southern California's Coachella Valley. In 1972, he opened the first Darr Eye Clinic in Indio, CA adjacent to Indio Community Hospital (now John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital). He served on the ICH medical staff for 20 years, six of which as a member of the Medical Executive Committee. In 1973, Dr. Darr became one of the first surgeons in the country to perform intraocular lens implantation in cataract surgery. As Chief of Staff at ICH from 1982 through 1984 - and as a concurrent member of the hospital Board of Directors - Dr. Darr was instrumental in restructuring by-laws and policies which resulted in heightened regulation of physician practices and quality assurance standards for the hospital. During this tenure, he also served as Chairman on the Administrative and Professional Activities Committees. He was on staff at Eisenhower Medical Center, as well. He expanded his practice in 1988 to open The Darr Eye Clinic Surgical Medical Group in Palm Desert. This facility was the first ophthalmologic ambulatory surgery center in the Coachella Valley and one of the first in Southern California to perform state-of-the-art procedures using the Argon and YAG laser technologies. The clinic was noted for Dr. Darr's expertise in the treatment of glaucoma and retinal disease, and for his ground-breaking use of phacoemulsification in cataract surgery. Dr. Darr established The Darr Eye Clinic Foundation for Sight, a charitable organization devoted to research and public education for the prevention of blindness. As part of this outreach, he wrote "As I See It," a weekly newspaper column which was featured in The Desert Sun. Dr. Darr was a Diplomate of the American Board of Ophthalmology and a Fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. He was a member of the Academy of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology, the American Association of Ophthalmology, the Society of Military Ophthalmologists and the American Intraocular Implant Society. Dr. Darr retired in 1999 after 40 years of practice. He received a heart transplant at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in 1997 and, upon his passing, was one of the longest surviving heart transplant recipients on record. "Joe" was known for his sense of humor and for his dapper sense of style. Friends and family were forever entertained by his ability to recite jokes and limericks on a whim, and by his talent for belting out Irish folk songs with baritone gusto. He was a prolific writer, a keen political cartoonist and a talented painter. He was a master at chess and played a mean hand of gin rummy. His favorite pastimes were playing golf, collecting Native American art and artifacts, and spending the summer months in Hawaii. Dr. Darr is survived by his beloved wife, Lois, his three children (Debbie Darr Postel, Lisa Darr Oliphant and Joseph "Jay" Darr, Jr.), two son-in-laws (Dr. Joachim Postel and Mr. Wesley Oliphant) and four grandchildren (Mackenzie Postel, Elise Oliphant, Krista Darr and Jesse Darr). The family asks that any tribute donations be made to the Heart Transplant Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center c/o Jon Kobashigawa, MD at (323) 866-7734, or to the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center c/o Allan Kreiger, MD at (310) 825-5477.

To view and sign this guestbook, please visit: desertsun.com/obituaries