Dr. John Marx devoted his life to emergency medicine.

He once wrote that he felt proud and lucky to help people in that terrible moment in their life when they havent expected to wake up in the morning and have their wife die or have their child severely injured or paralyzed in a car crash.

His own unexpected death came in a much different way.

Marx, who spent 20 years as chairman of emergency medicine at Carolinas Medical Center, died at home in his sleep on July 1. He was 62, with no known health problems.

Karin Marx said she and her two sons had gone for groceries while her husband took a nap that Sunday afternoon. When they returned, she could tell right away that something was wrong. He could not be revived.

He was the love of my life, she said. We were kind of gearing down to retire. We wanted to travel and do things together.

A private memorial service was held in the Marx front yard, in keeping with the doctors personality. He never wanted the spotlight to shine on himself, said Dr. Michael Gibbs, his successor at CMC.

The service drew leaders in emergency medicine from across the country, including Dr. Peter Rosen, one of the founders of emergency medicine as a specialty.

Marx had worked with Rosen at Denver Health Medical Center before moving to Charlotte. Rosen, founding editor of Rosens Emergency Medicine, the leading textbook, had chosen Marx to succeed him as editor-in-chief several years ago.

In 1991, when emergency medicine was still a new specialty, CMC recruited Marx from Denver, which had the premiere residency program at the time, said Dr. Lee Garvey, director of emergency cardiac care at CMC.

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Legacy of Dr. John Marx lives on at CMC ER