It would be hard to imagine the annals of Hawaii medicine without Dr. Livingston Wong.
From conducting the state's first kidney and bone marrow transplants to his dogged advocacy for modernizing the state's emergency medical services, Wong's impact on the local medical community was beyond significant.
And by all accounts, Wong's pioneering achievements came with a quiet humility devoid of any desire for attention or credit.
"A quiet innovator," Dr. Linda Wong said in describing her father. "He wanted to make Hawaii as good as the rest of the United States when it came to medical care. He didn't want applause or attention. He just did it because he thought it needed to be done."
Livingston Wong, 90, died Oct. 25.
A graduate of Maryknoll School and the University of Hawaii, the Honolulu native received his medical degree from the University of Oregon's Oregon Health Sciences University. After completing his residency in general surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, he returned home to set up his surgical practice in 1965.