Michael Palmer

Dr. Michael Lee Palmer, a beloved father, brother and son, died at his home in Wichita at the age of 69.

Mike, a cancer surgeon who graduated from the University of Kansas School of Medicine and practiced in D.C., was the oldest of Virgil and Marjorie Palmer’s four sons.

He was born in Kansas City, Mo., where he lived the first few years of his life. His parents moved to the Wichita area in the early 1960s. He attended grade school in Haysville and high school in Derby, where he graduated in 1974.

Mike spent four years at Kansas State University in Manhattan earning a pre-med degree. He was accepted into KU medical school, graduated in 1982 and spent five years in residency at St. Francis hospital in Wichita.

He was awarded a two-year fellowship in complex surgical oncology at the Roswell Park Cancer Center in Buffalo, N.Y. During that period, Mike and his then-wife Therese Cvetkovich lived in Batavia, N.Y., where their son Samuel was born.

The couple moved to the D.C. area in the 1990s, when Mike became a partner at Foxhall Surgical Associates. He was a general and oncological surgeon at Sibley Memorial Hospital, one of the city’s top-ranked health care facilities. He retired from surgery in 2020 and moved to Wichita to be closer to his aging parents, who still lived in Derby.

Mike was a devoted dad, who enjoyed spending time outside with his son Sam. As an assistant scoutmaster, the two went on camping trips all over the mid Atlantic with Scout Troop 149. Later, they travelled the world on whitewater rafting trips down some of the world’s wildest rivers, including the Zambezi in Zambia, the Futaleufu in Chile and the Brahmaputra in India.

Mike, whose mom was born in New Orleans, La., also enjoyed cooking, particularly in the southern style. He loved to prepare big seafood feasts with loads of crab and shrimp for friends and family at his townhouse in Arlington, Va. across the river from Georgetown. He was also known for his gumbo recipe, and was frequently asked to make it for family events during the holidays.

An avid moviegoer, Mike would often sneak out during the afternoon to try to catch the latest film, only to be called back to work to handle a medical emergency. He also loved theater, and made sure to see any new show being performed at one of D.C.’s myriad theater venues big and small. As a teenager, he would badger his mother to let him spend afternoons at the movies and then recount the film in excruciating detail for anyone willing to listen. He was a big fan of the early James Bond series, but also loved horror movies like “The Abominable Dr. Phibes.”

Mike had a minibike as a kid and his first car in high school was a used red Italian Fiat that he drove into the ground. For a while as an adult, he owned a white Harley Davidson motorcycle that he enjoyed riding throughout the Washington area, including at least once as part of the Rolling Thunder motorcycle event on Memorial Day weekend.

During retirement, Mike spent time with his parents, particularly his father Virgil, who reintroduced him to Kansas. Mike tried his hand at tennis, but got annoyed when Virgil would let him take more than two serves to get the ball in. Together, they drove around the greater Wichita area, visiting some of Virgil’s old painting buddies and stopping at any museum within a hundred mile radius.

He also continued to travel, including taking trips to New Zealand with his son Sam, to Japan with his brother Doug, and finally to the Galápagos Islands, which had always been on his bucket list. Over the course of a lifetime of trips, he accumulated a legendary refrigerator magnet collection.

Mike spent many years practicing martial arts. He earned a black belt in taekwondo and also studied aikido and tai chi. He was a proficient guitarist who downplayed his skill. After he retired, he took up the violin as a new challenge. Later, Mike lost his sense of taste because of a bout with Covid and no longer enjoyed eating as much as in the past. But he still enjoyed watching cooking shows when he visited his mom and dad on weekends.

Mike is survived by his son, Samuel; his daughter-in-law, Diane; his mother, Marjorie; his former wife, Therese; his brothers Doug, Scott and Chris and their wives Jackie, Shelley and Michelle and eight nieces and nephews: Matt, Sarah, Cory, Casey, Rose, Luke, Ryan and Emma.

Service information is yet to be determined and will be announced here.