Dr. Cease’s lifelong guiding philosophy was to work every day to make this world a better place.
He was born in Raleigh, North Carolina to Elizabeth and Heister Cease. From a young age he joined the Boy Scouts, becoming a member of the Occoneechee Council, later earning the rank of Eagle Scout, and ultimately being elected to the Order of the Arrow. A formative experience was his role as waterfront director at Camp Durant, where he served as a swimming instructor to children and teenagers who had difficulty being around water.
After graduating from high school, he attended North Carolina State University and developed a love for biochemistry. He also was elected to the campus-wide judicial board and was a member of Sigma Nu fraternity.
He then enrolled in medical school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and during that time he and the love of his life, Kay Miller, were married. In 1981 Dr. Cease graduated from medical school and the two moved to Ann Arbor, where he did an internal medicine residency at the University of Michigan. He was then awarded a fellowship from the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. It was in Maryland that their first child, Paul Hamilton, was born.
They ultimately returned to Ann Arbor, where Dr. Cease was hired as a clinical oncologist and researcher at the University of Michigan and the Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals. He cared deeply for his patients and strove to be the most empathetic and clinically astute physician that he could be; he would sometimes spend hours working to fully understand particularly complex cases in order to deliver the highest level of care. In his research, collaborating with dear colleague Dr. Jon Oscherwitz, Dr. Cease developed vaccines for cancer and infectious diseases and was awarded numerous grants to do so.
It was in Ann Arbor that son Andrew Morgan (Andy) was born, and later daughter Margaret Kemp (Maggie). All three of Dr. Cease’s children brought him great joy and pride, and he often shared stories about them with friends and colleagues.
Dr. Cease was a self-proclaimed lifelong learner; he was perpetually curious. In 1999 he earned an MBA from the University of Michigan. Outside of the university setting, he continued to delve into topics like computer programming, audio production, and playing guitar throughout his life. Immensely creative, he had a unique ability to bring together knowledge and experience from different fields into novel solutions. The results of this were seen in the array of research he conducted, from work on anthrax vaccines to lung cancer to informatics support for patient care, as well as in the multimodal approach he brought to teaching young medical professionals. Indeed, Dr. Cease cherished mentoring new oncology fellows and he treasured the teaching awards that he received from them.
Dr. Kemp Cease is survived by wife Kay and children Paul (Ashley), Andy (Kelsey), and Maggie, as well as brother Clymer (Patty), niece Elizabeth, Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Henry, cousins Hal (Rhonda), Donna, Greg, and many other loving family members.
In lieu of flowers or gifts, please make donations to National Public Radio (NPR), Michigan Radio, or your local Member station: https://www.npr.org/about-npr/187533209/major-gifts
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18