October 7, 1934 — December 10, 2021
Our Renaissance man, John McDivit Tormey, M.D., died December 10 at age 87, after a challenging three-year struggle with heart failure and leukemia.
He was a truly good person.
His passion was teaching and doing research at the UCLA Medical School, where he taught for over 42 years, and won the best teacher award twice. He believed that “to teach is to touch a life forever.”
He grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, and received his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University, after which he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he lived for the remainder of his life.
John lived a self-examined life in order to grow personally and deepen his relationships with others, most notably with his wife. He so enjoyed being in nature and appreciated it fully. Being in nature nourished him and he felt that “while in nature we can step into silence and openness in order to see ourselves.”
Meditation, Western Buddhism and Compassionate Communication were his spiritual quests and his paths. Each was meaningful to him and transformed all aspects of his life.
His ethical beacons were thoughtfulness, loving kindness, compassion, right speech, non-judgment, gratitude, empathy, equanimity, accepting “what is” and embracing impermanence.
He believed that “my religion is kindness” from the 14th Dalai Lama, and that “peace comes from within” from Buddha.
He lives in the hearts of those he left behind: his wife Paula Ray; his four children Paul, Danielle, Ann and John Jr.; daughters-in-law Susan and Elena; his grandchildren Lux, Nick, Liam, Gwen, Taylor, Ryan, Megan and Maya; his sister-in-law Linda Tormey; his nieces and nephews Heather Tormey, Margaret Arthur, Peter Tormey, Michael Tormey, Patrick Tormey; and his grandnieces and nephews Gillian Banks, Geoffrey Banks, Ansley Arthur, Jacob Arthur, Peter Tormey Jr., Stephanie Tormey, Ashley Tormey and Danielle Tormey.
Per John’s wishes, no funeral services will be held.
The family requests memorial contributions in lieu of flowers to be made to InsightLA at insightla.org/donate in John’s honor. The family wishes to thank all of the staff at Luxe Homecare and Brentwood on Sunset who lovingly supported John during his transition. A special thanks for the exemplary service provided by Dr. Bernard Katz.
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