Famed Houston Dr. James “Red” Duke Passes Away

Dr. James "Red" Duke, a trauma surgeon who attended to Texas Gov. John Connally on the day of the Kennedy assassination before going on to become a familiar television doctor, died in Houston on Tuesday at age 86.

Duke was one of, if not the most prominent trauma surgeons not only in Houston, but the world over. He's also credited for paving the way for the Life Flight helicopter transport system which has been adopted all over the world even help design the helicopters.

Duke, a native of the Texas city of Ennis, earned his undergraduate degree at Texas A&M University and a divinity degree at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, before reconsidering his career choice and earning his medical degree at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

In a statement, Dr. Richard Andrassy, surgery department chairman at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, said Duke died of natural causes at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, where he was on staff.

For years Duke could be seen on ABC 13 in Houston giving medical reports on a nightly basis.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

R.I.P. Dr. Duke.