James Wideman, professor

James Wideman, 72, of Center City, a professor and medical editor, died of prostate cancer Friday at Wissahickon Hospice.

A native of Detroit, Dr. Wideman earned a bachelor's degree from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Mich. He earned a master's degree and a doctorate in physiology from the University of Michigan, and was a postdoctoral fellow in biophysics at the University of Maryland.

He met his future wife, Esther Cupps Wideman, an organist, at a concert in Baltimore that she was performing. They married in 1967.

The Widemans moved to Philadelphia in 1969, when he joined the faculty of Thomas Jefferson University Medical School. He was a professor of neurophysiology at Jefferson until becoming an editor for Biological Abstracts in 1977. He retired in 2000.

Dr. Wideman commuted to Jefferson by bicycle from his home in University City. He was active with the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, established in 1972 to promote bicycle commuting and safe bicycle routes.

He and his wife had restored a 1861 Victorian house in University City and were restoring an 1840 townhouse in Washington Square West. He assisted with the maintenance and restoration of the Arch Street Presbyterian Church, where his wife was organist and director of music.

He loved organ music and listened to the music of historic organs on their trips abroad, she said.

Dr. Wideman was a member of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors Society. He participated in the Senior Studies Program at the University of Pennsylvania and took courses in history and religion.

He pursued his interests with intensity and passion, his wife said. Though he battled cancer for 10 years, he remained active until three months ago, she said.

In addition to his wife, Dr. Wideman is survived by stepdaughters Julene Martin and Barbara Robbins, a sister, Marijane Krohn;  and two grandchildren.

A funeral service will be at 7:30 p.m. today at Terranova Funeral Home, 1248 S. Broad St. Friends may call at 6:30 p.m.

Dr. Wideman will be buried tomorrow, which would have been his 73d birthday, in Woodlands Cemetery, 4001 Woodland Ave.

Memorial donations may be made to the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, 3750 Woodland Ave., Drexel Hill, Pa. 19026, to benefit a James Wideman Memorial Concert.