Ronald Francis Yatteau, M.D.
- Ronald Francis Yatteau, M.D., age 83, of Lenoir City, TN, passed away Sunday, February 18th, 2024, from cancer of the pancreas. He was born September 22, 1940, to Donald F. Yatteau and Henrietta M. Lieser. His Father was a meteorologist for the United States Air Force and stationed for a time in both Hawaii and Japan. After retirement he continued to work for United Air Lines. During Dr. Yatteau’s childhood, he lived briefly in Hawaii, where he survived the bombing and strafing of his home in Honolulu during the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor.
10 years later, as a high school student living with his family in Tokyo, Japan, he came upon a Japanese infant drowning in a swift water canal and successfully rescued the child with the help of two fellow students.
In 1954, he was awarded the rank of Eagle Scout and a brotherhood membership in the Order of the Arrow by the Boy Scouts of America. After graduating from high school in 1958, he attended Georgetown University where he received his B.S. degree in biology in 1962.
He attended the Medical College of Virginia and received his M.D. degree in 1966. While still in medical school, he was elected to membership in the Alpha Omega Alpha National Medical Honor Society and the Sigma Zeta National Science Honor Society.
He was awarded the Eben Cary Memorial Award in Anatomy in 1963 and the Radiology Prize in 1966 while still a medical student. During his medical internship, he was awarded the “Outstanding Intern of 1967” by his fellow classmates and medical students in training. He entered the United States Air Force as a Flight Surgeon and was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas Nevada where he supported several combat squadrons involved in the Vietnam War.
In 1968 he transferred to Lackland Air Force Base to begin his Medical Residency training at Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center. In 1970, he continued his postgraduate training at Duke University Medical Center and completed his Cardiology Fellowship training in 1972.
After fulfilling his military obligation, he moved his family to Knoxville Tennessee and joined the medical staffs of Park West and East Tennessee
Baptist hospitals. He co-founded the East Tennessee Heart Consultants, a private practice cardiology group that eventually grew to over 40 cardiologists serving East Tennessee and parts of Kentucky and North Carolina. He was Board Certified in Internal Medicine, in Cardiology, in the American College of Sports Medicine as Program Director, and Diplomate in Interventional Cardiology and enjoyed fellowship in numerous professional medical organizations.
He helped establish the Baptist Hospital Heart Center and Heart Institute for the comprehensive evaluation and treatment of heart disease. He was instrumental in establishing the cardiovascular surgery program at East Tennessee Baptist Hospital.
He oversaw the first introduction of the so called “clot busting” drugs which were instrumental in saving many lives by dissolving the clots causing heart attacks.
As the Medical Director of the Heart Institute, he and his colleagues performed the first Coronary Artery Angioplasties utilizing balloon dilatation, stents, laser, radiation and “roto-router” technology. He established the first Chest Pain Emergency Room in East Tennessee for fast tracking and coordinating the rapid treatment of heart attack patients designed to prevent or minimize damage from heart attacks.
He enjoyed travelling, camping, kayaking, and skiing with his family. He was an avid photographer and enjoyed genealogy and cooking.
He was preceded in death by his parents and a daughter, Michelle Garcia. Surviving to cherish his memory is his loving wife of 40 years, Anne Katherine Van Orsdell Yatteau Esq., her daughter Kimberly (Kevin) Quigley M.D. who he raised alongside his own three children from a previous marriage: a daughter, Lisa Ritchie, a son, Ron (Jackie), brothers, Dennis (Susan), Jerry (Liz), Tom, Rick (Diane), and sisters, Jackie (Ron) Egli, Cheryl (John) Denson, Donna (Nick) Gilbert, several grandchildren, and great grandchildren. He was a faithful member of St. John Neumann Catholic Church. A funeral mass will be held, Saturday, March 9th, 2024, 12:00 PM, at St. John Neumann Catholic Church, Farragut. The family will receive friends 11:15-12:00 PM prior to the service. Graveside service will follow with full military honors.