Former CUSD trustee made house calls as 'old-fashioned' doctor

By: PHILIP K. IRELAND - Staff Writer | Monday, April 2, 2007 8:04 PM PDT ∞

CARLSBAD ---- An "old-fashioned" pediatric doctor in Oceanside and Carlsbad for more than 35 years, Richard R. O'Neil refused to rush from appointment to appointment, insisting that his patients get all the time and care they needed.

Born in the Bronx, N.Y., on May 30, 1931, O'Neil died at Scripps Memorial Hospital on March 2. He was 75.

He died as he lived ---- helping others, his daughter Beth O'Neil-Belcher, said last week. O'Neil suffered a heart attack while helping friends with some home repairs, she said.

A past president of the Carlsbad Unified School District, O'Neil presented diplomas to all four of his children ---- including Carolyn, an Australian exchange student whom he and his wife, Ruth O'Neil, count as one of their own. He served on the school board between 1973 and 1978, including three years as president. He served with Hope Wrisley, for whom Hope Elementary is named, and with former U.S. Congressman Ron Packard.

"He was a very congenial person to work with, very pleasant," said Packard from his Carlsbad home on Friday. "He did his homework preparing for meetings. He was an effective member and an independent voice."

Packard remembered O'Neil as a dedicated board member who served for the greater good.

"I believe he served for the right reasons --- to improve the school district and help the community," Packard said.

O'Neil earned a bachelor of science degree from Columbia University and a medical degree from Albany Medical College.

He worked as a pediatric doctor after completing his residency in 1960 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. O'Neil served as chief of pediatrics at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, Nev. From 1960 to 1962, he served as a captain in the Air Force.

O'Neil and Dr. Donald Ward founded Tri-City Pediatrics on Cassidy Street in Oceanside in 1962 on a handshake and worked as partners of 25 years. O'Neil made house calls, provided free care for those who couldn't afford a doctor, and never refused to treat anyone ---- practices long gone in these days of managed health care, his wife said.

O'Neil loved working as a doctor in the days before management companies created health maintenance organizations, his wife said.

"He refused to be hurried," Ruth O'Neil said of her husband of 53 years. "He was always behind in the office. He didn't care about appointments. When you walked in the room, you were the only one that mattered."

O'Neil-Belcher said her father treated his patients as family.

"He literally helped all of my friends, and all of their children," O'Neil-Belcher said.

"I don't know how many people have called saying they couldn't have raised their children without him," his wife said of the outpouring of support the family has received as word of O'Neil's passing has spread.

O'Neil served as elder in the First Presbyterian Church in Oceanside.

From 1987 to 1988, O'Neil served as chief of staff for Tri-City Medical Hospital and Medical Center, and as a pediatrician for Scripps Clinic, San Marcos from 1988 to his retirement in 1997.

His success as a doctor was rooted in his compassion and caring, his wife said.

"He was a gentle doctor," she said. "He gave advice like he was giving advice for his own family."

Three of O'Neil's four children followed their father's lead into medicine. Richard O'Neil Jr. serves as a pediatric anesthesiologist. Beth O'Neil-Belcher and her sister, Cydnie, work as registered nurses.

"Our father was always available," O'Neil-Belcher said. "It didn't matter what I needed. It didn't matter what path we took. He would always support us. I knew that when I had a situation, good or bad, I could share that with him."

As a husband, O'Neil continued to romance his wife throughout their lives, O'Neil-Belcher said.

"He was my mom's best friend," she said. "To the day he died he left my mother love notes everywhere."

Ruth said she would leave him messages in lipstick on the mirror.

"I have no regrets from the day I married him," O'Neil said. "He was my everything."

O'Neil walked four miles every day along the beach at Tamarack Street, O'Neil said. An avid reader, O'Neil had devoured more than 1,000 books since his retirement, his daughter said. She knows so because her father kept of list of the books he'd read on his computer.

Contact staff writer Philip K. Ireland at (760) 901-4043 or online at pireland@nctimes.com.