Joseph O'Keefe, Md

Joseph D. O’Keefe, M.D., passed away peacefully in his sleep in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, on June 12, 2022. He joins his beloved wife, Eileen, his parents, Dr. Charles and Mrs. Josephine O’Keefe, his daughter, Linda Christine, his brother, McCann Hills O’Keefe, and his sister, Charlotte Matthews Manassa. He also rests with his nephews, Michael O’Keefe and Taylor Matthews, and nieces, Karen Hennelly Long and Nancy Hennelly.

He is survived by his children, Kathleen Charlotte O’Keefe, Kelly O’Keefe Voorhees (Kent I. Voorhees, M.D.), and Joseph Damon O’Keefe, Jr. (Connie G. O’Keefe), by his grandchildren, Charles O’Keefe Crouse (Djenita Svinjar), McCann Hill O’Keefe and Connor Goessling O’Keefe, his nephews, Charles Matthews and Timothy O’Keefe, and his niece, Charlotte Matthews Lyons.

Dr. Joe loved fishing, bird hunting, golf, traveling across the world with family and friends, and baseball. He was a champion baseball player at the University of Colorado in Boulder. The summer before medical school at Washington University he tried out for his beloved team, the St. Louis Cardinals. He didn’t make the team, and later his children asked him what he would have done if he had. “It was always medical school for me. I wanted to be a doctor like my father,” he said. Dr. Joe practiced as an obstetrician-gynecologist with his father in the old Beaumont Building in St. Louis, and later practiced in Kirkwood, Missouri. His long-time assistant, Karen Price, estimated that he delivered more than 14,000 babies during his nearly fifty year-long career, spanning from his residency at the University of Chicago in the early 1950s to his retirement at age 75 years.

A memorial service to celebrate his life and legacy will be held on Saturday, October 29, 2022, at 10 a.m. at Webster Groves Presbyterian Church, 45 W. Lockwood Ave., St. Louis, Mo. 63119.

In lieu of flowers or other gifts, please consider making a memorial gift to the Alzheimer’s Association to help continue work in providing Alzheimer’s care, support and research.

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