Edwards, Clifford N.

Clifford  N. Edwards, MD, 88,  of Kennett Square, Pa., formerly of Los Angeles, Calif., Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Las Cruces, N.M.,  passed away Saturday, March 2, 2013. He was the husband of Joyce Adela Edwards, who passed away in 2008, and with whom he shared 57 years of marriage.

He  was a pioneering urological surgeon with a career spanning five decades. During World War II he was assigned to the Royal Canadian Signal Corps.  Before medical school he received the Governor General's Academic Medal.  He obtained his medical degree at Winnipeg General Hospital under Dr. D Nicholson. He performed his residency and subsequently taught at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, where he was the junior surgeon on the first kidney transplant team.  He also practiced as a GP in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada.  Later he received a research fellowship and taught at the Bowman Gray Wake Forest School of Medicine, North Carolina.  For the majority of his career he practiced as a urological surgeon at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Los Angeles for 24 years where he co-founded a kidney stone clinic.

He served as chief warden and as an usher for many years at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Van Nuys, Calif. He was a generous philanthropist who contributed to numerous children's charities.  He was a frustrated golfer, avid reader and baseball watcher.

He was a loving husband, father and grandfather, who is survived by two sons, Daniel S. Edwards and his wife, Sandra, of Pearland, Texas and Christopher G. Edwards and his wife, Ann, of Foster City, Calif.; a daughter, Melanie L. Hanick and her husband, Kelly, of Kennett Square, Pa.; and four granddaughters, Andrea and Kate Hanick and Brittany and Jennifer Edwards.

His memorial service will be at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, March 23, at the Episcopal Church of the Advent, 401 North Union St., Kennett Square, Pa. Burial will be private.

In lieu of flowers, a contribution may be made to the Sun Catchers Fund, c/o Holisticare Hospice, LLC, 230  Sugartown Rd., Suite 30, Wayne, PA 19087 or to a hospice facility of your choice.

Online condolences may be made by visiting www.griecocares.com

Arrangements by the Kuzo & Grieco Funeral Home, Kennett Square, Pa.

Published March 7, 2013 in The Gazette