Joseph K. Corson, 92, Chestnut Hill dermatologist
Joseph K. Corson, 92, of Plymouth Meeting, a dermatologist who practiced in Chestnut Hill for half a century, died Sunday, May 10, of respiratory failure at home.
Joseph K. Corson, 92, of Plymouth Meeting, a dermatologist who practiced in Chestnut Hill for half a century, died Sunday, May 10, of respiratory failure at home.
Dr. Corson came from a long line of Quaker physicians, one of whom was decorated for bravery while serving as an assistant surgeon in the Union Army during the Civil War in 1863.
Named Joseph K. Corson, too, he pulled an injured man out of the line of fire and received the Medal of Honor, said the younger Dr. Corson's daughter, Ann F. Corson. "He was my father's grandfather."
Dr. Corson retired in 2000. At various times he was chief of dermatology at Chestnut Hill Hospital and associate clinical professor of dermatology and cutaneous biology at Jefferson Medical College.
His father, Dr. Edward F. Corson, was a dermatology professor at Jefferson, according to Ann Corson.
Born in Bala Cynwyd, Dr. Corson and his family moved into Maple Hill, the Corsons' ancestral home in Plymouth Meeting. At the time, he was a boy. The property had been purchased in 1833 by his great-grandfather Hiram Corson.
Dr. Corson graduated from Germantown Friends School. He received a bachelor's degree from Colgate University and a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1946; he was the 17th member of the Corson family in five generations to obtain a medical degree from Penn, according to Ann Corson, also a physician.
He followed postgraduate training at the former Philadelphia General Hospital with a dermatology residency at Pennsylvania Hospital.
"He worked with just a receptionist. He never had a nurse," Ann Corson said. "He was personal, humorous, and compassionate." He followed the Corson doctors' pattern of accepting 10 percent of his cases as charity care.
A skilled cabinetmaker, Dr. Corson built many fine pieces of furniture for family and friends. They included grandfather clocks, dressing tables, coffee tables, and pieces in the Chippendale style.
He was devoted to the care of his family's ancestral home and had a deep, lifelong love for the Wind River Valley region of northwestern Wyoming, where he built a vacation home.
Dr. Corson was a member of the Philadelphia Cricket Club, Welcome Society, Historical Society of Montgomery County, the Plymouth Meeting Historical Society, and a hereditary member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.
Besides his daughter, he is survived by a son, William C., and four grandchildren. His wife, Charlton, died in 1997. A son, Edward F. IV, died in 2009, and a daughter, Charlton Locke Hamilton, a renowned equestrienne and singer, died in 2011.
A memorial service was Sunday, May 24.