Colleagues pay tribute to ASPS past President C. Lin Puckett, MD, 1940-2026
Plastic surgeons are mourning the passing of ASPS past President Charles Linwood "Lin" Puckett, MD, who died Jan. 9 at age 85.
Lin was born Oct. 19, 1940, in Burlington, N.C., to a schoolteacher mother and a father who was the production manager for the daily newspaper. Educated at Elon College and Bowman Gray Medical School at Wake Forest, he graduated Alpha Omega Alpha, the national medical honor society.
His general surgery and plastic surgery residencies were completed under the tutelage of David Sabiston, MD, and Kenneth Pickrell, MD, respectively. Under the direction of Dr. Sabiston, Lin started the trauma surgery service at Duke. Lin spent six months in Louisville in a hand fellowship with Harold Kleinert, MD, as well as a short rotation in Canniesburgh, Scotland. The experience in Louisville led to a career-long interest in surgery of the hand.
Assuming the chief position of a moribund plastic surgery service in Columbia, Mo., in 1976, Lin transformed the program into a vibrant residency and, with time, into one of the earliest integrated models of plastic surgery resident education. Over the ensuing decades, he trained and graduated individuals with a broad base of plastic surgery expertise who entered their respective communities and became highly competent and successful practitioners – a testimony not only to his and the programmatic training and education process, but also Lin's capabilities in the identification and selection of individuals of high caliber.
"I remember I was a second-year medical student and thought I was a pretty good artist," recalls Matthew Concannon, MD, PRS section editor, past president of the Missouri chapter of the ACS and former member of the AAHS Board of Directors. "I wasn't even clinical yet, but he took a meeting with me and, unbelievably, I just said: 'I'm a pretty good artist, and I think I'd be a good plastic surgeon.' He just smiled and pointed me across the hall to the lab."
Dr. Concannon says Lin's guidance convinced him to stay in the Missouri program to complete his plastic surgery training. He wasn't the only one.
"We have these 'Puckettisms' that we kind of live by," says Stephen Colbert, MD, a plastic surgeon who trained under Dr. Puckett before ultimately being recruited by his mentor onto the program's staff. "One is: 'Plastic surgery is fun, and if we're not having fun, we're not doing it right.' He would later add that it's even more fun with residents and trainees – in other words, academia is more fun than private practice."
"He was a gifted and skilled surgeon who trained us how to do efficient surgery with little wasted motion," Dr. Colbert adds. "He expected all of us to achieve as high a standard as we could."
Lin was also particular about presentation and had a keen sense of smell.
"He would not hesitate to allow residents to leave if they'd put on too much cologne or if they still smelled of garlic after lunch," Dr. Colbert notes.
His hands-on approach and interest in resident wellness were evident before such topics became de rigeur. No more fitting testimony to that personal method exists than the annual ski expedition to Vail, Colo., where Lin owned a three-bedroom condominium within walking distance of the base of the Lionshead gondola. Initiated when the program was still the traditional two years, the logistics were easily manageable, but less so as the six-year model was fully operational. The sleeping arrangements tried the physical limits of the condo, but probably enhanced the overall wellness and culture of the residency.
"Everyone looked forward to that," Dr. Concannon says. "We'd all pile into his condo, eager for him to take us out skiing."
Lin's semiannual winter holiday and summer parties held at his farm also complemented that diligence toward the inoculation of a sense of community within the program.
"We were always a tight group – the plastic surgeons, nurses, residents and attendings," Dr. Concannon recalls. "There'd be a department-wide Christmas party, but we would always be huddled together because even though we spent so many hours together every day, those were the people we always wanted to be hanging out with. At his own winter party, though, he was such a perfectionist that he'd have 50-60 presents – everyone got multiple gifts – that he'd spent days wrapping in the most precise manner you could ever imagine."
A true leader and friend
Lin's leadership capabilities and accomplishments are exemplified by the recognition of his peers through his election to the highest positions in the governance within the specialty. In addition to his term as ASPS president in 2000, Lin was a past president of the American Association of Hand Surgeons and the Association of Academic Chairman of Plastic Surgery (now ACEPS), and he served as chairman of the American Board of Plastic Surgery. His other positions within organized plastic surgery include service on the PRS Editorial Board, as an ACS governor and the board of The Aesthetic Society.
Dr. Concannon notes that Lin always placed heavy emphasis on service to the plastic surgery community, and that his time leading organizations and serving as ABPS chairman were a source of immense pride for his mentor.
"He always seemed to be present at home, too, however," Dr. Colbert notes. "He was always busy clinically – he never let his organizational duties interfere with his clinical practice. Even when he was president of an organization and had to travel, he was back quickly to see his patients. He had opportunities to be department chair and attain higher-level positions at the university, but he felt a sense of responsibility to the practice that he thought those positions would take away."
His list of publications totals more than 120 and is reflective of a diverse interest in both basic and clinical research. To contradict the phrase "a prince but a pauper in his own realm," Lin served as vice chairman of the Department of Surgery at the University of Missouri for two decades and on the Executive Committee of the faculty practice plan. His expertise and proficiency in teaching was sought by 19 different institutions in the role of visiting professor. In 2002, he received the ASPS Honorary Citation for his work on behalf of the Society and the specialty at large.
As a person, Lin was a man of a giant intellect wrapped in optimism and generosity. Willing to be of assistance, rarely critical, he imbued those qualities of humanism and the disposition of the welfare of others above his own, the qualities that constitute the excellent and superb physician and surgeon. Survived by his wife, Teresa, and children Loy, Lisa Barnard, Leslie Corrigan and Harry, as well as seven grandchildren.
On an entirely personal note, I shared a friendship with Lin Puckett for almost 50 years that is, in a word, irreplaceable. In a final act after the onset of that wretched disease known as Alzheimer's – yet while he still retained some skills – we skied together for a final occasion. Laughed and cried. A better place, Lin.
Dr. Luce is a past president of ASPS and The PSF.