On April 24, 2015, Eugene Collier Simms, M.D. died at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, Calif., of complications related to congestive heart failure. He was 85 years old. Eugene was born on February 14, 1930, in Barnwell, S.C., to Willie Wilson Simms and Louise Walker Simms. He was the only son and second oldest of five children. The family migrated to Brooklyn, N.Y. where he received his pre-college education. Eugene's interest in becoming a doctor began at an early age when his mother took him to the Brooklyn Hospital Clinic for medical checkups. By the time that Eugene reached the age of 13, he had lost both parents. Their deaths served to intensify his desire to become a physician. Eugene and his siblings were raised by his maternal grandmother, a former school teacher. Eugene graduated from Boys High School in Brooklyn after only 3½ years. Following graduation, he worked 1½ years before entering Morgan State College in Baltimore, Md. During his collegiate years, he worked in the Dean's Office, for the U.S. Postal Service, at a tile factory, and at an ice cream factory. He was listed in "Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities," and was known for his sports column "Out on a Limb with Simms." Eugene obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree from Morgan in 1953. After graduation, he immediately began work as a cancer research technician at New York University-Bellevue Medical Center in New York, N.Y. His work involved some of the initial attempts to detect cancer. His most precious and enduring benefit from this job was that he met and married (on Thanksgiving Day, 1955), Mildred E. Copeland. Eugene earned his medical degree from Howard University College of Medicine in 1964. His training after medical school included a rotating internship and residency in anesthesiology at Meadowbrook Hospital and Bronx VA Hospital, both in New York. He also was an assistant clinical professor of anesthesiology at Columbia University while teaching at Harlem Hospital in New York. In July 1970, Dr. Simms began private practice of anesthesiology in Southern California. From 1971-1977, he was Chairman of Anesthesiology at then newly-built Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif. He was one of the seventeen original physicians. From 1970-1971, and from 1979-1998, Dr. Simms practiced anesthesiology at Desert Hospital in Palm Springs, during which time he served as Chairman of Anesthesiology and Vice Chairman of Surgery. From 1976-1994, he was also a visiting attending anesthesiologist at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, Calif. Dr. Simms was a member of numerous boards, societies, and associations, including lifetime membership in the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., and memberships in the Howard University Medical Alumni Association and the Morgan State University National Alumni Association. Dr. Simms became a member of St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in Palm Desert, Calif. in 1970, serving as in-house physician on Sundays when he attended services. In addition, he donated medical equipment so that he could serve efficiently in that capacity. Survivors include his devoted and loving wife of 59 years, Mildred Copeland Simms of Indian Wells, Calif.; his two daughters, Gia Lynne Simms, of Alexandria, Va., and Gina Laurie Simms Jenkins (Kevin Jenkins), of Potomac, Md.; his sisters, Anita Gulston, of Brooklyn, N.Y., Elise Lawton, of Brooklyn, N.Y., Wilma Ector, of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Elizabeth Evans, of Fort Washington, Md.; six nieces and nephews, and many cousins and close friends. On May 6, 2015, Dr. Simms was buried at Parklawn Memorial Park in Rockville, Md. An announcement regarding his memorial service at St. Margaret's will be made in the fall.
