Terry Lee Poling, MD

Terry Lee Poling, MD, passed away peacefully on March 4, 2025, at the age of 88. He was a loving father and husband, as well as a formative leader within the Kansas healthcare and medical research community. Terry was born on his grandfather’s farm in Norton County, Kansas, in 1936. He grew up in Goodland, Kansas before attending Kansas State University where he achieved academic honors and competed nationally as a member of the varsity Air Force ROTC rifle team. He attended medical school at the University of Kansas. After completing his medical residency at the University of Kansas Medical Center, and service in the Air Force both domestically and overseas, he settled in Wichita, KS, and started a medical practice as Board-Certified Family Practice physician. Few have contributed as much to the profession of medicine in Kansas as Dr. Poling. During his sixty years of professional work, he served as President of the Kansas Medical Society, Chair of the Kansas delegation to the American Medical Association, President of the Sedgwick County Medical Society, Founding member of the Wichita Center for Graduate Medical Education, Clinical Professor at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, and Founding Vice-Chairman of the Kansas Medical Mutual Company (KAMMCO). In the late 1980s, during a time in which Kansas physicians faced a crisis that threatened to eliminate access to healthcare for thousands of Kansans, he helped lead the effort to establish a physician-owned liability insurance company dedicated to ensuring that physicians could continue to practice in Kansas for decades to come. He also founded two successful medical practices and a medical research firm that completed more than 1,350 medical studies during his tenure and improved thousands of patients’ lives. He published widely on medical and research topics and received many more professional honors and appointments too numerous to mention individually. Throughout his life, he found invigoration and solace in nature through outdoor activities on land, water, and in the sky. Among his favorite pursuits were fishing, hunting, scuba-diving, spending time at his lake house on Beaver Lake, and riding his motorcycles through interesting terrain throughout the world. He was an avid aviator, flying his single-engine aircraft as an instrument-certified private pilot well into his 70s. He generously shared his love and knowledge of all these interests with his family and friends through many memorable trips over the years. He is survived by his wife, Mary Ann; children, Tanya, Timera, Tracy, Thane, Tucker, and Taylor; stepchildren, Trisha Spears and Jon Probasco; 17 grandchildren; and 2 great-grandchildren. He is also survived by brothers, Tony and Tim Poling of St Francis, Kansas; and sister, Tina Conneally of Wichita, Kansas. He is predeceased by his parents, Cleo and Vona Poling; and brother, Tad Poling. Terry was genuine, strong, kind, diligent, and thoroughly independent. He impressed those values on his children, grandchildren, and the many people he mentored and helped during his long and vigorous life. The world is a better place because he lived. In accordance with his wishes, Terry’s ashes will be spread privately and no memorial service will be held. In lieu of flowers, a memorial has been established with: Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, P.O. Box 22324, New York, NY 10087. Services in care of Downing & Lahey East Mortuary.