Petajan died Wednesday from complications related to his three-year struggle with gall bladder cancer. He was 75.
He was one of the University of Utah's leading experts on multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and other neuromuscular diseases.
"He was an academic all-star, a giant in the field of neurology," said Gordon Smith, an associate professor of neurology at the U. "His academic accomplishments were numerous and impressive and well-recognized internationally."
But more than that, he was a physician who took the time to get to know his patients beyond their physical ailments.
If a patient needed 90 minutes instead of the 30 allotted, Petajan saw him or her for 90 minutes, said Lois Hubbard, his secretary of eight years.
"The thing that was most frustrating to him was what he called 'widget medicine' - that you treated one special area and not the whole person," she said. "His feeling was that you needed to treat the whole person. That meant the emotional, the psychological and the physical. It didn't just mean neurology."
Petajan's interests extended beyond medicine. He was a classical violinist who loved to fly-fish, play tennis, ski, swim and sing in a symphony chorus. He even built his own mountain cabin.
Petajan was born in Evanston, Ill., in 1930 and graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1953 with a degree in biology. He went on to earn his M.D. and Ph.D. in physiology at the University of Wisconsin, where he also completed his residency in neurology.
He came to Salt Lake City in 1969 as an assistant professor of neurology at the U. He became a professor in 1973 and led the School of Medicine's neuromuscular laboratory from 1971 to 1993. Petajan developed the Clinical Neurophysiology Laboratory and launched the university's Multiple Sclerosis Clinic.
The U.'s Department of Neurology named its new electromyography laboratory for Petajan, and neurology residents recently honored him with a lifetime teaching award.
He is survived by his wife, Eve, four children and their families, and his brother, Albert.
A viewing will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday at Evans and Early Mortuary, 574 E. 100 South. Services will be held at Wasatch Presbyterian Church, 1700 S. 1700 East at 6 p.m. Monday.
Donations may be made to the Jack Petajan Memorial Fund, National MS Society, Utah State Chapter, 2995 S. West Temple, Suite C, Salt Lake City, UT 84115.
