Roger Scott Perry was born November 22, 1943 in Salt Lake City, Utah and died on November 12, 2016 of a stroke incident to pancreatic cancer. He was the second of four sons of Frederick James and Hazel Scott Perry. Seven of his first 10 years were spent growing up in the Airbase Village adjacent to the Salt Lake City Airport. AS a returning World War II veteran, his father was eligible for low income housing in this apartment complex, which was made from converted military barracks. During his tenth year, his parents moved the family to the eastside of Salt Lake City, near Foothill Village. While there he attended 3 different elementary schools and then Hillside Junior High School. As a sophomore, Roger started at East High and after 6 weeks was transferred to Highland High School for the nest 12 weeks. At the Semester break, halfway through his sophomore year, he transferred back to East High School. While at East High he thrived academically and played football all 3 years. Roger was average weight and build and so it was surprising that at a mere 167 pounds his senior year, he was a starting guard on both offense and defense on the football team. In 1962 he proudly graduated with honors from East High.
After completing his freshman year at the University of Utah from 1962 to 1963, Roger served in The Southern Australian Mission, 1963 to 1965 (McConkie/Tanner group). Upon an honorable return, Roger took up his studies again at the University of Utah. In 1968 he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Chemistry. From 1968 to 1973 he was enrolled, as one of three students, in an M.D. / Ph. D. program and was thus dually enrolled in the University of Utah College of Medicine and in the Department of Pharmacology in the University of Utah Graduate School. During that time, in addition to his class work and clinical rotations, he was heavily involved research and was the co-author on scientific papers generated by that research. During that time, he presented his research work at two national scientific meetings. During his sophomore year, he was awarded second place in a School of Medicine's student research contest. In 1973 he graduated with an M.D. and Ph.D. degree.
On June 24, 1969, while in the thick of his studies and research at the University of Utah, he married Carolyn Folsom Cowley. During medical school, they had 2 children, Cachet and Ammon, and two years after graduation, while living and working as an emergency physician in the upper peninsula of Michigan, their third child, Jarom, was born. Later, Roger and Carolyn divorced in September of 1985.
After an internship in the Tucson Hospitals Medical Education Program in Tucson, Arizona from 1973 to 1974, Roger began his fulltime practice of Emergency Medicine. His first position was at Marquette General Hospital, a regional medical center in Michigan's upper peninsula. While in Michigan Roger joined the faculty of the Medical School of Michigan State University. And taught pharmacology in that school of medicine's satellite campus in Escanaba, Michigan. After working for 2 years in emergency department and teaching, he moved his young family back to Salt Lake City, and joined a young and energetic small group of emergency physicians at Valley West Hospital.
In 1979 the American Board of Medical Specialties recognized emergency medicine as a distinct specialty, and the American Board of Emergency Medicine was thus born. Nationally, Roger was among the second group of physicians to meet the requirements and pass the national certifying examinations administered by the American Board of Emergency Medicine and thus became one of the first physicians in the nation to be board certified in Emergency Medicine. Within 2 years of that, Valley View Hospital became the first emergency department in the State of Utah to be fully staffed exclusively by physicians Board Certified in Emergency medicine. At that time, tiny Valley West Hospital became the second busiest emergency room in the state. Within a few years Valley West Hospital became Pioneer Valley Hospital, which is now operating as Jordan Valley Medical Center, West Valley Campus. In 1995 Roger joined the emergency department medical staff at Lakeview Hospital and until his retirement from clinical practice in 2014, Roger split his emergency room shift work between Pioneer Valley Hospital and Lakeview Hospital in Bountiful, Utah.
On August 7, 1987 Roger married Christine Evans, blending their three children each from prior marriages, making them the "Brady Bunch", minus an Alice and a dog. Roger and Chris were sealed in the temple in 1991.
During his career, Roger accomplished an unusual feat, by working full time in the high stress and fast paced environment of an emergency room for 40 years, working his share of night shifts, weekends, and holidays, consisting of 12, 16, and even 24-hour shifts. In addition to working at Pioneer Valley Hospital and Lakeview Hospital until 2014, Roger worked in a number of part-time clinical settings, including Mountain View Hospital's emergency room; Emergency Doctors Services Urgent Care Clinic; Southeast Urgent Care Clinic; Tooele Army Depot field clinic during the incineration of chemical weapons and Lake Hospital emergency room in Yellowstone
National Park. In total, Dr. Perry treated over 200,000 ER patients in his long and dedicated career.
Roger practiced emergency medicine with a great sense of devotion and caring. He was passionate in the delivery of medical care and was a stickler for detail and precision. He was known amongst his colleagues for his expertise in wound repair and closure, as well as being an excellent clinician. He was always learning and keeping abreast of the latest in emergency medicine. He exceeded the required continuous education requirements for physicians each year by a factor of 4 or 5.
Roger's non-clinical work included a short time of volunteer teaching at the University of Utah Medical School in the Department of Pharmacology. Administratively, he held several positions including, one year as Chief of the Medical Staff at Pioneer Valley Hospital and several years as Emergency Department Chairman at Pioneer Valley Hospital. He also served several years as managing partner for Western Emergency Physicians, LLC and sat on the Board of managers for Emergency Physicians Integrated Care, LLC (EPIC) for 6 years. He was the Chief Compliance Officer and Risk Manager for EPIC, LLC for many years. In addition to administrative work, Roger authored several chapters in medical procedure coding books and wrote many policies and procedures for EPIC, LLC and for the many emergency departments in which he worked.
Recreationally, Roger participated, when time permitted, in basketball, softball, tennis, camping, fishing, hiking, skiing, swimming, snorkeling, and running. Starting with his first marathon at age 55, he completed 20 marathons, including Boston, New York, Chicago, St. George, Los Angeles, Maui, Disney World, Salt Lake and others. He finished in the top 3 in his age division in several of these marathons. Roger first for started running marathons on a lark and a dare from his wife. Roger ran his first marathon, the Las Vegas Marathon, with only 5 weeks of preparation. He surprised mostly himself by qualifying for the Boston Marathon on his first attempt with 15 minutes to spare. All of this while working full time in the emergency room and attending to his many non-clinical work duties and positions.
Spiritually, Roger was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and held many positions therein.
A description of Roger would be incomplete without mentioning the extensive travel, which he and his forever Sweetheart Chris, did during their 29 years of marriage. Their travels included all seven continents, numerous islands, as well as sailing six of the seven seas. However, Roger's favorite was always the Hawaiian Islands.
Roger is survived by his wife, Chris; daughter, Cachet (Greg) Bean; son, Ammon (a.k.a. Elizabeth Dewier); son, Jarom (Michelle); step-daughter, Stephanie (Jason) Mounteer; step-daughter, Leisa (Marissa) Smith; step-son, Jeff (Kara) Fuhriman; brothers, F. Stephen (Kay), J. Joseph (Meredith) and Von R. (Sue) and 12 grandchildren. He is preceded in death by his parents.
Funeral services will be held Thursday, November 17, 2016 at 11:00 am at the Cameo Park Ward, 8945 South 1700 East with a viewing from 9:30-10:30 am. Family and friends may call on Wednesday, November 16, from 6:00-8:00 pm at Larkin Sunset Gardens, 1950 East Dimple Dell Road (10600 South). Interment at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park.
