Unconditional love for everyone he met

Stanley van den Noort, a former dean of the UC Irvine School of Medicine and pioneering multiple sclerosis researcher and clinician, is being remembered for his devotion to his work, patients and family.

The groundbreaking neuroscientist died Wednesday at his home in Tustin of complications from a brain injury that he suffered more than two years ago. He was 79.

Van den Noort built one of the country’s top multiple sclerosis clinics. From 1997 to 2001, he served as chief medical officer and chairman of the Medical Advisory Board for the National MS Society.

“Dr. van den Noort’s work in neuroscience took MS research to a whole new level,” John Richert, the society’s executive vice president of research and clinical programs, said in a statement.

“In his role as chief medical officer of the society and chair of the Medical Advisory Board, Stan helped to build awareness, understanding and support for speeding us towards a world free of multiple sclerosis,” Richert said. “He will be much missed by all who knew him.”

A prolific publisher, van den Noort also was lauded for the care he gave his patients.

He once remarked that he was incapable of spending just 15 minutes with a patient.

He chose instead to spend upward of an hour with each one.

But his enthusiasm extended into his personal life as well, where he was remembered as a warm and caring family man.

Van den Noort was married for more than 55 years to his wife, June. They spent their 50th wedding anniversary in Paris with their five children and many grandchildren.

“He would make a joke out of how he couldn’t work as many hours a week as his age anymore, but he almost did,” June van den Noort said.

“He was really like the ideal dad,” said his daughter, Betsy van den Noort. “He worked very hard, but when he was home, we always felt we had access to him. Always.”

June van den Noort said her husband put the secret of his success down to the simple act of trying. “That’s the kind of thing that lives on with me,” she said. “You’ve just got to try.”

Born Sept. 8, 1930, to Dutch immigrants in Massachusetts, van den Noort attended Dartmouth College and Harvard Medical School.

He was instructed by and adored his father, a high school history teacher, who taught him the value of education. Van den Noort, in turn, passed it on to his own children and grandchildren, saying they could do anything to which they set their minds.

“They really loved him so much, because they really felt he believed in them,” Betsy van den Noort said.

In true van den Noort fashion, Betsy said her fondest memory of her dad was a situation that delighted him even more than her.

The night before Christmas in Boston one year, when her father was in his 70s, van den Noort gave his credit card to a store clerk, who was about his age, who then remarked that the surname on the card sounded familiar to her.

The name brought to mind her high school history teacher, who was van den Noort’s father and Betsy’s grandfather.

“My dad loved his dad, loved the fact that he was remembered,” Betsy van den Noort said, as most people only remember their most impactful teachers well.

After medical school, van den Noort worked at Boston City Hospital, then served as an officer in the Navy for two years before spending 10 years at Case Western Reserve in Ohio.

In 1970, van den Noort became a professor and chairman of neurology at the nascent UCI College of Medicine. Within three years, he was the college’s dean, a title he wore during a time of rapid growth at the school until 1985, when he returned to clinical practice full time.

He was presented with the university’s highest honor, the UCI Medal, in 2008.

“Dr. van den Noort was a truly outstanding clinician and scholar who provided the finest of compassionate care to his many patients,” said current medical school Dean Ralph V. Clayman. “His considerable contributions to our medical school and UCI in general will remain with us always.”

Even in the last year and a half of his life, when he was unable to speak, June van den Noort said that every day she spent with her husband was a pleasure. She even cherished the mundane things, like going to the store with him.

He is survived by June; his children Susanne, Eric, Peter, Kathy and Betsy; his grandchildren Aren, John, Jennifer, Melissa, Stephanie, Riley, Tory and Will; and his great-grandchild Alex.

“I think his legacy is sort of the generosity of his love, and it was unconditional for everybody,” Betsy van den Noort said, from the garbage man to the university chancellor.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in his honor to the van den Noort Multiple Sclerosis Clinical Program, Fund No. 3042; the van den Noort Neurology Chair’s Research Endowment, Fund No. 7152; and to the National MS Society.