Randolph Martin York

For Marty York, helping others was a privilege. He chose to specialize in oncology at a time when there wasn’t yet much effective cancer treatment and “the big C” was seen as an immediate death sentence. When asked, “How can you stand to face that every day?” he would reply without hesitation, “The patients deserve someone to care for them.”

Randolph Martin York died August 27, 2019 at the age of 76 following a battle with Parkinson's Disease. Born in Albany, Georgia in 1942, he took lifelong pride in having played tight end on the 1959 Albany High School football team that won the AAA state championship. He graduated from Georgia Tech and went on to the Medical College of Georgia, then interned at Duke University Hospital. After his service in Vietnam, for which he was awarded the Bronze Star, he returned to complete his residency in internal medicine at University of California at San Francisco. There he met Holly, and they began what was to be a 45-year marriage. Having completed a fellowship in clinical oncology at Harvard University’s Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, he returned to Georgia and soon became Emory’s Associate Director of Hematology-Oncology, receiving the Crystal Apple Award for outstanding teaching at Emory Medical School. In 1994 he joined Peachtree Hematology & Oncology, where he was much loved by patients and colleagues. He retired in 2012.

His enthusiasm for athletic endeavors continued from his high school football days into later life, when he ran marathons and several times completed the Bicycle Ride Across Georgia. He was a voracious reader who read the complete works of several authors and was well along in his goal of reading all the Pulitzer Prize novels. A gourmet cook and connoisseur of fine wine, he often said that being around the table with family and friends was one of his greatest joys.

He is survived by his wife Holly, sister and brother-in-law Zan York Wright and Stephen W. Wright, daughter and son-in-law Noelle and Kevin York-Simmons, son and daughter-in-law Arthur York and Anna Beck, nephews and nieces-in-law Stephen and Karen Wright and Randall and Maggie Wright, grandchildren Eli, Linden, Henry, Campbell, and Marley, and grand-nieces Katherine and Mary Margaret.

Marty was all about giving, and we are sure he would want every one that desires to send flowers to, instead, donate that amount of money you would have spent on him, to one of the charities listed at the bottom.

A funeral service will be held at All Saints’ Episcopal Church at 10 a.m. on Friday, September 6. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a memorial donation to the Michael J. Fox Foundation, Emory University Emeritus College, or the animal rescue organization of your choice.

https://www.michaeljfox.org/donate
http://www.emory.edu/home/giving/where-to-give/general-university-index.html
https://www.dobermanrescueatlanta.com/donate/