Dr. Arthur Dick

Arthur Roland Dick, M.D., aged 90, of Hesston, Kansas, died after a short respiratory illness on Oct. 20, 2024, at Newton Medical Center in Newton. Arthur was born on Aug. 26, 1934, in New Hamburg, Ontario, Canada, to Isaac and Katharina (Friesen) Dick. He grew up in the area, emigrating with his parents, older sister and younger brother to central California in 1948. He graduated from Livingston High School in California in 1951, earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Bethel College in 1955, and a Master’s Degree in Biology from Wichita State University. 

While at Bethel, Art met and married his wife, Betty (Schwartz) Dick in 1954 and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1957. The couple welcomed Amy (Dick) Morgan and Julie (Dick) Sparks to the family in the late 1960s.

Art served three years in the U.S. Army at Edgewood Arsenal in Baltimore, Maryland, researching Leukemia. He completed his medical degree at the University of Maryland Medical School. The couple moved to the Kansas suburbs of Kansas City when Art began his medical internship at the University of Kansas Medical School in 1965. He later joined the Department of Neurology faculty, retiring 50 years later from the department as Professor Emeritus at the age of 85. 

A pioneer in the newly developing field of neurology, the highly respected and beloved professor was an outstanding physician, educator and researcher. He served as 

vice chair of the department from 1982 to 1985 and acting chair from 1985 to 1987, as well as directed the residency training program from 1987 and 1990. Art served as medical co-director of the Muscular Dystrophy Association clinics on the KU Medical Center campus from 1990 to 2004, when he took over as medical director through 2015.

Art launched statewide neurology outreach and travelled with a team throughout rural Kansas giving didactic presentations to local physicians. Art earned multiple National Institutes of Health grants to study brain edema and migraine, stroke and epilepsy. He served as examiner and diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and National Board of Medical Examiners. 

He established the annual Arthur R. Dick, M.D., Neurology Lectureship to encourage colleagues and alumni of the Neurology Department to return to exchange knowledge. He lived to see the Lectureship through its second session. 

Art leaves a legacy as a trailblazer who joined and grew KU’s Neurology Department when the specialty was in its infancy. Art will be fondly remembered as a gentle, soft-spoken effective physician and teacher who positively influenced and mentored countless students, residents and colleagues. He also enjoyed spending weeks in the summer as part of the KU Med team that staffed Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico.

Art lived most of his adult life on 68th Street in Prairie Village, moving to Newton five years ago when his younger daughter, Julie’s, husband, Jeff Sparks, accepted the position as Pastor of Newton’s St. Luke Evangelical Presbyterian Church. 

Services will be held at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 16, at Bethel College Chapel, with a reception following at Water’s Edge in Hesston. Art will rest at First Mennonite Church in Pretty Prairie, located on land his wife’s family homesteaded in 1884.

Art was preceded in death by his father, Isaac; his mother, Katharina; wife, Betty; brothers Jac Friesen, Bill Dick, Johnny Dick and Edward Dick; and sister Frieda (Dick) Menzel. 

He is survived by his daughters Julie (Dick) Sparks (Jeff) of Newton; Amy (Dick) Morgan (Steve), of San Antonio; and two grandsons, Michael Morgan and Jack Morgan; as well as numerous nieces and nephews in Canada, California, Colorado, Kansas and Virginia. 

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to the Salvation Army, Doctors Without Borders, or the Arthur R. Dick Lectureship fund at KU Endowment.