Chicago's first family Monday mourns the loss of Dr. Alan W. Yasko, 51, Maggie Daley's bone cancer surgeon.
Yasko's family tells the Chicago Tribune he died Thursday, August 19, after he suffered a pulmonary embolism. Dr. Yasko was in Mexico where he was scheduled to deliver an educational presentation at the Latin American Tumor Society meeting.
The bone-cancer surgeon and chief of musculoskeletal oncology at Northwestern University's Lurie Cancer Center, made national headlines in March when he performed surgery on Daley to strengthen her right leg which was damaged by a malignant bone tumor.
Yasko earned his medical degree at the Northwestern University Medical School. He spent 15 years of his career at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Hospital in Houston before joining Northwestern's Feinberg faculty in 2006.
Dr. Yasko's colleagues tell the Chicago Tribune he specialized in a field performed by few surgeons. They say he was drawn by his patients.
"Being in that field also informed him as a person," Dr. Andrew D. Bunta, vice chairman of orthopedic surgery at Northwestern's Feinberg School of Medicine told the Chicago Tribune. "He loved conversation. He was an easy person to talk to, and he really appreciated life."
Visitation will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday in Wenban Funeral Home, 340 E. Vine Ave., in Lake Forest.
Local
A funeral mass will take place at 10 a.m. Friday in St. Mary Catholic Church, 175 E. Illinois Rd., in Lake Forest.
