John Arthur Coller, MD
November 30, 1936 – November 18, 2025
John Arthur Coller of Weston, Massachusetts, adored husband, father, grandfather and brother died peacefully on Tuesday, November 18, 2025. John, son of the late Arthur Irving Coller and Florence Lasceldes (Freeman) Coller, was born in Rochester, New York in 1936. He is predeceased by his beloved wife of 63 years, Patricia Leh Coller.
John graduated from Penn State with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1958. As a gymnast on the Men’s Gymnastics Team at Pennsylvania State University, John was an integral part of the team’s U.S. National Championship Title in 1957. He was also the Captain of Penn State’s Cheerleading Team. It was on the cheerleading squad where John met Patricia, who became Head Cheerleader and the love of his life. He and Patricia remained devoted Penn State fans throughout their lives.
He served in the United States Navy from 1958 – 1961 as a commissioned officer. Among his responsibilities, he was the Hydrographic Survey Officer and the Line Officer. John was on the first Navy ship to venture into the Black Sea. His love of sailing and the water began with his first sailing experience at age three on the family’s 19-foot Lightning sailboat and blossomed over the years racing on Lake Ontario with his family. John later became the Fleet Surgeon and Captain for Eastern Yacht Club’s Annual Cruises. He was the navigator aboard the winning Bristol 40 Sloop in the 1985 Marion-Bermuda Yacht Race.
While in the military, John and Patricia married on July 23, 1960. John, Patricia and their children enjoyed sailing their Finola, which was the fourth Swan 36 ever built. The summers, including week-long excursions on Finola, remain cherished memories for his children. After medical school, John and Patricia made their home in Weston, Massachusetts, where they reared their four children.
John attended the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1965. While in medical school, John was selected by the NROTC Internship Matching Program as the U.S. representative for the Board of Directors meeting in Chicago. He developed the first Hepatitis B Blood Test at UPenn in 1965 and was a named inventor on the resulting patent. He completed an internship and his surgical residency at the University of Pennsylvania Health System in 1971.
His nearly 40-year career with Lahey Clinic Medical Center began with his Colon and Rectal Surgery Fellowship in 1973. Following his training, John was the third surgeon hired in the Colon and Rectal Surgery Department at Lahey. He was responsible for the first parenteral nutrition service at Lahey. More significantly, he introduced flexible colonoscopy to the hospital and taught the procedure to surgeons and gastroenterologists. In addition, he performed the first Ileoanal Pouch Surgical Procedure (J-pouch surgery) in New England.
John was Director of the Colon and Rectal Research Center, a position he held for most of his Lahey career. He authored and co-authored more than 150 published manuscripts and established the Pelvic Floor Laboratory. John created and developed the continually-perfused anorectal manometry system that has been used around the world and for which he is a named inventor on the patent. This is John’s legacy to colon and rectal surgery.
In 1993, he served as Vice President of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS). John was a founding member of the Society of American Gastrointestinal
Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) and served as its President in 1986 and 1987. Alongside his son, John Jr., they created SAGES’s first website. In 2002, John was honored with the SAGES Distinguished Service Award.
Combining his love of medicine and sailing, John was the co-founder of OceanMed in 1998, a ground-breaking telehealth system, which enabled live images from ships across the world to be shared with medical specialists on land for consultations, diagnoses and treatments during medical emergencies.
In addition to his love of sailing and medicine, John loved music throughout his life, particularly opera. He was an accomplished clarinet player, playing with the New York Philharmonic as a teenager.
As a gifted surgeon, John will always be remembered for his devotion and compassion for his patients and his dedication to teaching, research and innovation. He was passionate about his family, sailing, opera, and ever-emerging technologies. John is survived by his four children and their spouses, Elizabeth “Lisa” and Christopher Bruce, MD; John “Chip” Coller Jr., PhD; Amy and Shaun Daley; and Kathleen “Katie/Kate” and Greg Ploussios. John also leaves behind his twelve grandchildren, Sarah (Bruce), MD and Evan Jones, MD; Lauren (Bruce) and Michael Koerick; Ariel, Corinne, Samantha, Emily and Caitlyn Coller; Shaun Jr., Declan and Finnegan Daley; and Owen and Jack Ploussios. John is predeceased by his grandson, Harrison Coller Daley.
Family and friends may call on Sunday, December 21, 2025 from 4:00 – 7:00 p.m. at George F. Doherty & Sons Funeral Home, 477 Washington Street, Wellesley, MA. A funeral Mass will be celebrated on Monday, December 22, 2025 at 10:30 a.m. at St. Julia Catholic Church, 374 Boston Post Road, Weston, MA. For those who wish to make a memorial tribute, in lieu of flowers, may send donations to The Colon Cancer Foundation. Contributions can be made online at https://coloncancerfoundation.org
in memory of John A. Coller, MD.